Behind the scenes of AcuteCare.icu

AcuteCare.icu started as a very practical need: having a single, fast and reliable reference for acute care reasoning that works well on a phone during busy shifts.

From a technical perspective, the project is deliberately simple. The focus is on reliability, speed and maintainability rather than on a complex stack.

Technology choices

• Static-first content using a lightweight site generator, so pages render quickly and predictably.
• Markdown-based content, making it easy to add, edit or version-control acute care pathways and checklists.
• A design optimised for small screens, with typography and spacing tuned for use at the bedside.

Deployment and reliability

The pocket site is deployed on a globally distributed edge platform, so latency is low regardless of where it is accessed from. Static assets are cached close to the user, and there is no dependency on a central application server for everyday use.

This setup is intentionally resilient: even if other hospital systems are slow or temporarily unavailable, AcuteCare.icu should remain fast and responsive.

Content governance

Because the site is meant for acute care use, content changes follow a simple but strict process:

• Changes are made in version control.
• Each update is reviewed against current guidelines and local protocols.
• Only after review the content is deployed to production.

This keeps the pocket site aligned with medical standards while still allowing for rapid iteration.

Future directions

In the future, I plan to add more structured acute care pathways, lightweight decision support and POCUS-focused teaching modules. The aim is to keep the technical foundation simple, while gradually expanding the clinical value.