1.  Full-text access to all the Oakes' titles, which includes expanded information for every title - much more than is available in print form.  All the titles are fully searchable - making finding what you need a cinch. 

2.  Full access to our expert forums, complete with a panel of active carefully chosen experts who will answers questions ranging from general care to critical care.  Have questions about managing patients on APRV? Evidence-Based strategies?  Most of the time you end up with expert answers within a day or so! 

3.  Hundreds of resources at your fingertips.  Each resource has been approved by one of our resident experts, with exceptional resources marked as an Oakes' Top Pick.  For example, when I am managing patients on APRV, I turn to that mode's resources all the time to print out the latest evidence-based strategies, which I can then share with physicians, respiratory therapists, etc.  It is an invaluable tool.  

So log-in and check it all out!  

We are excited to announce that the Clinical Practitioner's Pocket Guide (the Blue Book) is on the way to be printed as I type.  This 2013 edition is full of new information, a major edition update.  What does that mean for RespiratoryUpdate?  Well, some of the changes have already been made here (shhh - don't tell anyone but we actually stole stuff from RespiratoryUpdate for the book!).  Everything else will be updated within the next few weeks.  That means an already outstanding site will become even more robust.  

Oh, and you'll have the changes several months before they're available in print.  Now that's exciting news.  

For those unaware, our forums now feature 25+ Expert Moderators from all over the world.  They peruse posts, and respond when the subject reflects their expertise.  This is yet another benefit to your oakesacademy.com Membership.  

Once you log-in, visit the forums by clicking on "Expert Forums" on the Left.  

Enjoy! 

Did you know that we now have about 25 carefully chosen experts moderating our Forums?  Each one has an area of specialty, and as topics come up that they feel they can meaningfully contribute to, they will.  

How do you know it's them? All posts by experts are marked as "Expert Moderators" 

Our current listing:

Expert Moderator Affiliation(s) Amy Bardin, MS, RRT, VA-BC Respiratory Supervisor Vascular Access Specialist Banner Health, AZ Betty Chong-Menard, RRT, RN, MEd Director of Clinical Education Respiratory Therapy Program South Texas College McAllen, Texas Edwin Coombs, MA, RRT-NPS Director of Marketing Respiratory Care Systems - Draeger Int'l Stephanie Cross, MS, RRT, RPFT Assistant Professor Shenandoah University Winchester, VA John Davies, MA, RRT, FAARC Clinical Research Coordinator Duke University Medical Center Durham, NC Bob Demers, RRT, RCP Regional Respiratory Care Education Consultant Kaiser Permanente of Southern California Pasadena, CA Dana Evans, MHA, RRT-NPS, AE-C Respiratory Care Supervisor Mercy Children’s Hospital St. Johns Mercy Medical Center St. Louis, MO Bret Fields, RRT-NPS, RPFT, AE-C Respiratory Therapy Manager Mid Valley Hospital Omak, Washington Michael Hewitt, RRT-NPS, FAARC, FCCM Director, Respiratory Care Services St. Joseph's Hospitals Tampa, Fl Nancy Johnson, RRT-NPS Pediatric Respiratory Care Education Coordinator Rainbow Babies and Children's Hosp Cleveland, OH   Scot Jones, BA, RRT, RCP Respiratory Therapist  Pitt County Memorial Hospital Greenville, NC Site Co-Creator  oakesacademy.com Tom Lamphere, BS, RRT, RPFT Executive Director Pennsylvania Society of Respiratory Care Dana Oakes, BA, RRT-NPS Author, Speaker, Educator  Oakes' Pocket Guides Respiratory Update Site Co-Creator oakesacademy.com Paul Ouellet, PhD, RRT  Clinical Specialist  Vitalité Health Network Edmonton, NB Canada Jenni L Raake, RRT CICU Clinical Manager Children's Hospital Medical Center Cincinnati, OH  Sean Shortall, RRT-NPS, RPFT  Co-Author Oakes’ Ventilator Management Book Clinical Education Specialist Maquet, Inc. Keith Siegel, RRT, CPFT, AE-C Director  Respiratory Care and Electroneurodiagnostics Penobscot Bay Medical Center Rockland, Maine Dana Stauffer, MS, RRT-NPS Manager Respiratory Care & Pulmonary Diagnostics Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center Hershey, PA  Jay Taylor, RRT, TTS Tobacco Education Coordinator Sanford Medical Center, Fargo Fargo, ND  Bruce Toben, RRT-NPS, CPFT Director, Clinical Affairs International Technidyne Corporation Piscataway, NJ  Kenny Winn, RRT Clinical Director (Interim) Respiratory Care Services Carolinas Medical Center Levine Children's Hospital Charlotte, NC Gabriel Wright, SFC, RRT Instructor/Writer Interservice Respiratory Therapy Program METC United States Army Fort Sam Houston, Texas

This section provides a good overview of the indications, contraindications, phases, and commentary on the RT's role. 

The information can be found here. 

Update can be found here.

What are we up to now?

• We're busy adding our 6th title to the subscription mix, "Oakes' ABG Instructional Guide."  We anticipate this step-by-step guide being available by the end of November.  
• We are continually adding new Resources, and are in the exhausting process of continuing to index the ones we have into a system that allows us to easily track "dead links" or changing pages.  
• We have added several expert moderators to our Forum area, but are continuing to seek more.  Have any ideas? Interested yourself? Let us know.  

We hope you'll continue to find this membership more valuable each day.  

We are happy to announce that Oakes' ABG Pocket Guide is available online. 

This is not your mother's text of ABG basic classifications.  It was written to bring people up to the level of Critical Care Physicians, who are interpreting ABG's just like this.  The approach is systematic, and actually quite simple once you learn it.   

Oh, and what's next on the docket? We are already hard at work formatting and updating content in the Neonatal/Pediatric Pocket Guide.  We expect to be finished in early October.  Stay Tuned!

A few key updates over the printed version:

• Several modes, with more to come. 
• Critical Care Drug Chapter has been intertwined with the Blue Book's Drug Chapter
• Diseases have been expanded, and incorporated into the Blue Book's Chapter
• Of course, hundreds of relevant hand-picked Resources on almost every topic!
• And Much, Much More!

These are all 2012 editions with updates from the last printed copies.  Chapters include:

Specific Disease Management: Ventilator Strategies and Troubleshooting related to major diseases/disorders including ARDS, Asthma, COPD, Neuromuscular Disorders, and more.  As an added bonus, links to the ventilatory strategies are provided directly from the Disease section in the Blue Book!

Ventilator Effects, Cautions, and Complications: Includes an extensive pulmonary section covering everything from VAP to VILI, from Oxygen Toxicity to Auto-PEEP.  Other major body systems are covered as well, creating a comprehensive look at how Mechanical Ventilation creates a complex process that is felt system-wide. 

Critical Care Drug Management: Critical Care Drug Management picks up where the Blue Book's Pharmacology let's off.  Includes major pain, sedation, and paralytic classes of drugs with normal infusion rates, etc.  This is a must-know for anyone working in critical care. 

Have your own favorite resources?  We'd love to hear about them . . . send them to us :-)

Next up? The chapter on Specific Disease Ventilator Management (ARDS, Asthma, COPD, etc.)

The current chapters are:

• Ventilator Need/Indications
• Ventilator Operation
• Modes of Ventilation
• Initial Settings
• Ventilator Graphcis
• Equations
• Noninvasive Ventilation

We anticipate completion of the Ventilator Book in early July. Stay tuned for updates!

The current chapters are:

• Ventilator Need/Indications
• Ventilator Operation
• Modes of Ventilation
• Initial Settings

We anticipate completion of the Ventilator Book in late June or early July.  Stay tuned for updates!