Acute care providers face many challenges when making a diagnosis and deciding on therapeutic interventions on their fragile patients. Understanding and explanation based on causal chains of events have limitations when applied to complex physiological systems. The speaker and neonatologist Timothy Antonius recently introduced a new concept and educational technology with the goal of facilitating reasoning and communication in the clinical environment: Explanatory models in acute care. The concept will be discussed, and companion software demonstrated. We will jointly explore further development of explanatory models and their promise as mental models for clinical practice in intensive care and beyond.