School of Medicine

Goal Directed Therapy is the optimization of intraoperative fluids using dynamic markers of volume status such as stroke volume and cardiac output, rather than less sensitive measures such as urine output, blood pressure, and pulse. Using the Frank Starling curve to optimize perfusion with volume, GDT has been shown to decrease complications, decrease hospital and ICU length-of-stay, and decrease overall cost in high-risk patients undergoing surgery. It is not currently in use at UCSD but the aims of this project were to help implement it through resident education.