Joseph Zalocha: What is ARDS?
Joseph Zalocha is in charge of an Intensive Care Unit at Northside Hospital in the St. Petersburg, Florida area. He also works for a contracted group called EMCare, for which he covers “inpatient service at Largo Hospital, Doctor’s Hospital in Sarasota, [Florida], Northside Hospital, and Oak Hill Hospital in Springhill, [Florida].” As an ICU physician, Dr. Zalocha deals with a high number of patients suffering from Adult Respiratory Distress Syndrome, or ARDS. This occurs when the lungs’ alveoli—tiny, elastic air sacs—fill up with fluid. This fluid prevents some oxygen from getting to the bloodstream and deprives organs from what they need to do their jobs.
Usually, Joseph Zalocha has seen ARDS develop in patients who
are already seriously ill. It is a common disease for patients in the ICU for
various reasons. But under Dr. Zalocha’s watch, the syndrome is preventable and
monitored closely to avoid complications. Dr. Zalocha and his teams work to
prevent this disease from taking hold by using new and improved ventilator
systems and other organ monitoring procedures. Once ARDS develops in a patient,
the result can often be death. The risk of death increases of course with the
severity of the ARDS case and the age of the patient, so ICU doctors like Dr.
Zalocha have to be very careful when monitoring patients under their care.
Joseph Zalocha takes many steps specifically to avoid ARDS in
his patients. He has created new systems of monitoring them in the ICU so that
this serious disease doesn’t take hold and threaten the lives of his patients.
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