
The Resus Room
281 episodes — Page 4 of 6
January 2020; papers of the month
Happy New Year!! We hope you've all had a great Christmas and New Year and that you managed to get some well earned time off over the festive period. 2019 saw us publish more insights from lead authors of the latest and most influential studies in Emergency Medicine and Critical Care, and we're really excited to say that we'll be delivering you even more in 2020 with some excellent RCTs, international guidelines and much, much more! This month we've got 3 papers to challenge practice across a wide array of practice. We start off with a paper that evaluates if we can change our d-dimer thresholds in suspected PE's and how many unnecessary work ups and scans that might decrease. Next, following on from our previous Hypothermia podcast, we have a look at a paper which looks at the best rewarming rates in patients with hypothermia, which may change your rewarming strategies.... Finally we have a think about our use of CT scanning in patients who gain a ROSC after cardiac arrest, and consider what benefit full body CT scanning might bring. Thanks to all of you for your support with the podcast over the last year and we look forward to bringing you some great stuff in 2020! Enjoy Simon & Rob
Pre-Hospital Critical Care; London Trauma Conference 2019
REBOA, ECMO, Thoracotomy? Where should we be focussing our attention in the world of Pre-hospital care? We were lucky enough to be invited to the London Trauma Conference on the Prehospital Day supported by the Norwegian Air Ambulance Foundation. The day focussed on the areas we can make a real impact to the outcomes of our pre-hospital critical care patients. We grabbed a few minutes time of the following speakers to hear their thoughts; Introosseous Access; Jerry Nolan Pre-hospital Blood products; Jostein Hagemo Communication under pressure; Dr Stephen Hearn Pre-hospital Critical Care - what should the near future look like? Dr Stephen Rashford Have a listen and as always we'd love to hear any thoughts or comments you have on the website and via twitter, and take a look at the references below to draw your own conclusions. We'll be back in the new year with monthly episodes of Papers of the Month and Roadside to Resus; have a great Christmas and New Year and we'll speak to you soon! Enjoy! Simon, Rob & James
December 2019; papers of the month
Well the year has flown by and it's already time for December's Papers of the Month Podcast! Head injuries are a huge work load for those of us involved in Emergency Care. Identifying those at risk of deterioration from a traumatic brain injury is a priority, as early intervention and prognostication can make a huge difference to patient outcomes. CT scanning is relatively easy to access and with it investigation creep has lowered our threshold of investigation and use of radiology resources; first up we have a look at a paper that looks at the potential benefits from employing a number of different guidelines in identifying the patients with traumatic brain injury, whilst comparing the risk of over investigation. Next up we have a look at the commonly made diagnosis of urinary tract infection in the older population and a review paper that will help you make the right diagnosis when it's present and not over diagnose when not. Finally we have a think about the potential benefit of a fluid bolus during induction of anaesthesia for our patients undergoing RSI; can a 500 mL fluid bolus prevent cardiovascular collapse? And we also hear the authors insights on the great RCT. Make sure to get in touch with any comments on any of the reviews, and importantly make sure you check out the papers and draw your own conclusions. Enjoy! Simon & Rob
Angioedema
Angioedema is something we'll all encounter in the acute setting, whether we recognise it or not... Understanding the different causes and mechanisms is imperative to ensuring the patients get treatment that is not only effective, but in extremis potentially lifesaving. In this episode we talk through the condition; from clinical presentation, causative agents, mechanisms of action, differentials and the evidence base of treatment. Get in touch with any comments on the podcast, ensure to read the papers that are referenced yourself and draw your own conclusions. Enjoy! Simon & Rob
Community Emergency Medicine
As care on our emergency and urgent care demand is on an ever upwards course, whilst alongside this the scope of what we can potentially deliver to patients is also increasing. In order to meet this demand and to deliver the best care possible to our patients we will need to look for other solutions. We were lucky enough to be invited to the First Community Emergency at the Royal Society of Medicine in London, hosted by the Physician's Response Unit. This event looked at the current challenges and explored solutions and opportunities for more collaborative working. In this podcast you'll hear from Tony Joy about the concept and practice of Community Emergency Medicine. You'll hear from Gareth Davies on the history of Pre Hospital Emergency Medicine, both challenges and achievements. Finally you'll hear from Bill Leaning, PRU clinical manager & HEMS paramedic about how to go about setting up a service. Please let us know any thoughts or feedback, and we'll be back with another podcast on a clinical topic for you in a few days time. Enjoy! Simon & James
November 2019; papers of the month
We've got some papers this month that focus on our sickest patients! If you had a patient that you found in cardiac arrest and you believed they had a PE, would you thrombolyse them during the arrest, and how much more likely do you think they would be to survive? Our first paper looks at exactly this question. Second up we consider the potential harms associated with adrenaline administration to those in traumatic arrest. Finally, when RSI'ing a patient and considering your pharmacological cocktail, how likely are you to reach for the fentanyl and how much concern would you have over the risk of this rendering the patient haemodynamically unstable? We take a look at a recent review on the topic and get Dr. Ian Ferguson's insights as the lead author. Make sure to get in touch with any comments on any of the reviews, and importantly make sure you check out the papers and draw your own conclusions. Enjoy! Simon & Rob
Can TXA save lives in head injuries, CRASH-3; Roadside to Resus
So an incredibly important paper, CRASH-3 has just been published in the Lancet, which looks at the treatment of head injuries with Tranexamic Acid (TXA). TXA has been shown to save lives in trauma patients at the risk of major haemorrhage, with the notable exclusion of those with head injuries, CRASH-2. TXA has been shown to save lives in those with post parts haemorrhage, WOMAN trial. Time to treatment with TXA has been shown to be hugely influential in it's ability to decrease blood loss and save lives. So has TXA now been shown to save lives in head injuries? In this episode we run through the paper and are lucky enough to have an interview with the lead author, Professor Ian Roberts. Have a listen, read the paper and as always we'd love to hear any thoughts or comments you have on the website and via twitter, and take a look at the references below to draw your own conclusions. Enjoy! Simon, Rob & James References The CRASH-2 trial: a randomised controlled trial and economic evaluation of the effects of tranexamic acid on death, vascular occlusive events and transfusion requirement in bleeding trauma patients.Roberts I. Health Technol Assess. 2013 CRASH-2;The Bottom Line Effectof earlytranexamic acidadministrationon mortality, hysterectomy, and othermorbiditiesin womenwith post-partum haemorrhage(WOMAN): an international, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlledtrial. WOMANTrialCollaborators.Lancet 2017 WOMAN Trial;The Bottom Line Effect of treatment delay on the effectiveness and safety of antifibrinolytics in acute severe haemorrhage: a meta-analysis of individual patient-level data from 40 138 bleeding patients.Gayet-Ageron A. Lancet. 2017 Tranexamic Acid - The Mechanism of Action;Video Tranexamic Acid, Time to Treatment;The Resus Room Does earlier TXA save lives?St Emlyns TXA podcast; PHEMCAST About CRASH-3; LSHTM
October 2019; papers of the month
Welcome to October '19 papers podcast. You can't go far without the topic of TXA as a treatment for anything that bleeds being mentioned! With the publication of CRASH-2 and the WOMAN trial practice has crept such that administration in gastro-intestinal bleeding is seen fairly frequently. However, current guidelines don't recommend the use of TXA in GI bleeding, so this month we have a look at a systematic review which looks to answer whether it's administration is supported by the evidence, before we get a definitive answer from the HALT-IT trial. Next up, following on from our Burns Roadside to Resus podcast, we take a look at a paper that quantifies the potential benefit of thorough first aid in the management of paediatric burns, a really key paper on the topic, with really powerful results. Finally, we all know that Sepsis is a core area of our practice, but at times it may feel like the attention on those that could possibly have severe sepsis displaces the ability to care for other critically ill patients. We take a look at a great paper developing a prehospital screening tool to focus in on those patients that really do require time-critical care. Enjoy! Simon & Rob
Shock in Trauma; Roadside to Resus
So as promised, and following on from our previous shock episode, this time we've covered the topic of shock in Trauma. It's a massive topic and one that we all, yet again, can make a huge difference for our patients' outcomes. There is some crossover as you'd expect from the concepts and assessment that we covered in our Shock episode, so we'd recommend taking a listen to that one first. Make sure you have a comfy seat and plenty of refreshments to keep you going for this one as we cover the following; Definition Aetiology Hypovolaemic shock Neurogenic shock Obstructive shock Cardiogenic shock Physiology; Traumatic coagulopathy Other diagnostics Controlling external haemorrhage Pelvic binders REBOA Avoiding coagulopathy BP targets & permissive hypotension Fluid choices & supporting evidence TEG/ROTEM Calcium TXA Vasopressors Preventing hypothermia Relieving obstruction Interventional radiology Damage control surgery As always we'd love to hear any thoughts or comments you have on the website and via twitter, and make sure you take a look at the references and guidelines linked below to draw your own conclusions. Enjoy! Simon, Rob & James References Shock;The Resus Room podcast REBOA;The Resus Room podcast External Haemorrhage;The Resus Room podcast Blood;PHEMCAST TEG & ROTEM;FOAMcast Major Trauma guideline;NICE Resuscitative endovascular balloon occlusion of the aorta (REBOA):a population based gap analysis of trauma patients in England and Wales Nationwide Analysis of Resuscitative Endovascular Balloon Occlusion of the Aorta in Civilian Trauma. Joseph B. JAMA Surg. 2019 The Pre-hospital Management of Pelvic Fractures: Initial Consensus Statement. I Scott. FPHC. 2012 RePHILL;Birmingham University Trials Assessment and Treatment of Spinal Cord Injuries and Neurogenic Shock;Fox A. JEMS Transfusion of plasma, platelets, and red blood cells in a 1:1:1 vs a 1:1:2 ratio and mortality in patients with severe trauma: the PROPPR randomized clinical trial. Holcomb JB. JAMA. 2015 Risks and benefitsof hypotensive resuscitation in patients with traumatic hemorrhagic shock: a meta-analysis. Owattanapanich N. Scand J Trauma Resusc Emerg Med. 2018 The CRASH-2 trial: a randomised controlled trial and economic evaluation of the effects of tranexamic acid on death, vascular occlusive events and transfusion requirement in bleeding trauma patients.Roberts I. Health Technol Assess. 2013 TEG and ROTEM for diagnosing trauma‑induced coagulopathy (disorder of the clotting system) in adult trauma patients with bleeding;Cochrane Review. 2015 Optimal Dose, Timing and Ratio of Blood Products in Massive Transfusion: Results from a Systematic Review.McQuilten ZK. Transfus Med Rev. 2018 Prehospital Plasma during Air Medical Transport in Trauma Patients at Risk for Hemorrhagic Shock.Sperry JL. N Engl J Med. 2018
September 2019; papers of the month
We start off this month with a much talked about paper in the pre-hospital services, what benefit does Pre Hospital Critical Care bring to cardiac arrest victims? We are lucky enough to have the inside thoughts of the lead author, this a really interesting piece of work and will no doubt lead to further discussions, for more information from the author take a look at his thesis here. Next up we take a look at the utility of troponins in patients that have suffered cardiac arrest, can we use them to evaluate how likely it was that an MI precipitated the arrest? Last up we have a look at a novel approach of ruling out stroke as the cause of acute dizziness. We'd love to hear your thoughts and comments. Enjoy! Simon & Rob
Stroke Management; Roadside to Resus
Following on from our previous Roadside to Resus episode on Stroke, in this episode we look at the rapidly evolving area of stroke management. In the last 2 decades stroke management has progressed beyond recognition and keeping up with the evidence and available therapies is a significant challenge. We cover the following treatments, looking at the risks and benefits of each, with the goal of being able to offer our patients the best possible outcomes; Aspirin Thrombolysis; both prehospitally and in hospital Thrombectomy Decompressive Hemicraniectomy Normoxia Euglycaemia Acute blood pressure management As always we'd love to hear any thoughts or comments you have on the website and via twitter. Enjoy! Simon, Rob & James References Tissue plasminogen activator for acute ischemic stroke. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke rt-PA.Stroke Study Group. N Engl J Med. 1995 Aspirin in Stroke;NNT Stroke Thrombolysis; Life in The Fast Lane Effects of Prehospital Thrombolysis in Stroke Patients With Prestroke Dependency. Nolte CH. Stroke. 2018 Effect of the use of ambulance based thrombolysis on time to thrombolysis in acute ischemic stroke: a randomized clinical trial. Ebinger M. JAMA. 2014 Indications for thrombectomy in acute ischemic stroke from emergent large vessel occlusion (ELVO): report of the SNIS Standards and Guidelines Committee. Mokin M. J Neurointerv Surg. 2019 Revolution in acute ischaemic stroke care: a practical guide to mechanical thrombectomy. Evans MRB. Pract Neurol. 2017 Extend; The Bottom Line Stroke and transient ischaemic attack in over 16s: diagnosis and initial management. NICE guideline.Published: 1 May 2019 MR CLEAN, a multicenter randomized clinical trial of endovascular treatment for acute ischemic stroke in the Netherlands: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.Fransen PS. Trials. 2014 A multicenter, randomized, controlled study to investigate EXtending the time for Thrombolysis in Emergency Neurological Deficits with Intra-Arterial therapy (EXTEND-IA).Campbell BC. Int J Stroke. 2014 Stent-Retriever Thrombectomy after Intravenous t-PA vs. t-PA Alone in Stroke. Jeffrey L. Saver. NEJM. 2015 Thrombectomy for Stroke at 6 to 16 Hours with Selection by Perfusion Imaging.Gregory W. Albers. NEJM. 2018 Thrombectomy 6 to 24 Hours after Stroke with a Mismatch between Deficit and Infarct.Raul G. Nogueira.NEJM. 2018
August 2019; papers of the month
Well the summer has definitely hit and we hope you get a chance for a break... making sure you spend spend some time listening to our Heat Illness episode on a beach somewhere! It's a wide variety of papers for you this month; Should we be looking to immediately cardiovert acute onset AF in the ED? What difference does glucagon make to clearing oesophageal foreign bodies? How important is our diagnostic accuracy in ED to the patients morbidity and mortality? And finally we cover a paper looking at the requirement for urgent tracheal intubation in trauma patients, and are lucky enough to get some thoughts from the lead author Dr. Kate Crewdson. We'd love to hear your thoughts and comments. Enjoy! Simon & Rob
Stroke; Roadside to Resus
Stroke is a common presentation to all Emergency Health care providers, with around 150,000 strokes occurring in the UK each year! Our impact and treatment can be hugely significant and in this podcast we're going to conver the topic in some depth, and importantly cover some of the new Guidance published by NICE in their 'Stroke and transient ischaemic attack in the over 16's diagnosis and initial management' document that was published in May of this year. We'll be running through Definition Pathophysiology Territories Risk factors Assessment; both prehospitally and in hospital Stroke mimics Investigations As always we'd love to hear any thoughts or comments you have on the website and via twitter. Enjoy! Simon, Rob & James References Stroke & Dizziness; PHEMCAST RCEMLearning; RCEM Belfast Vertigo Stroke and transient ischaemic attack in over 16s: diagnosis and initial management. NICE guideline.Published: 1 May 2019 Acute Stroke Lecture notes; LITFL Stroke Thrombolysis; LITFL Are you at risk of a Stroke; Stroke Association Modifiable Risk Factors for Stroke and Strategies for Stroke Prevention.Hill VA. Semin Neurol. 2017 A systematic review of stroke recognition instruments in hospital and prehospital settings. Rudd M. Emerg Med J. 2016 Acute Stroke Diagnosis.Kenneth S. Yew. Am Fam Physician. 2009 Imaging of acute stroke prior to treatment: current practice and evolving techniques.G Mair. Br J Radiol. 2014 Should CT Angiography be a Routine Component of Acute Stroke Imaging?Vanja Douglas. Neuro hospitalist. 2015 Comparative Sensitivity of Computed Tomography vs. Magnetic Resonance Imaging for Detecting Acute Posterior Fossa Infarct. David Y Hwang. J Emerg Med. 2013 Posterior circulation ischaemic stroke. A Merwick BMJ 2014 Prehospital stroke scales as screening tools for early identification of stroke and transient ischemic attack (Review)Zhelev Z, Walker G, Henschke N, Fridhandler J, Yip S. 2019. Cochrane.
July 2019; papers of the month
Welcome back! This month we're finishing off our theme of syncope with a paper that looks to answer the big question; in those with undifferentiated syncope, does hospitalisation result in better outcomes when compared to discharge? We have a look at a paper reviewing the feasibility of live streaming video from scene using the 999 caller's mobile phone, a fantastic utilisation of technology and a really exciting area; we also get the thoughts of one of the co-authors, Richard Lyon, Associate Medical Director for KSS. Finally we take a look at a paper reviewing the time on scene in cardiac arrests, that suggests if no ROSC is gained, rapidly getting off scene is in our patients' interest. We'd love to hear your thoughts and comments. Enjoy! Simon & Rob
Heat Illness; Roadside to Resus
If you live in the UK you may be fooled in to thinking that Heat Illness isn't really something we need to worry about...but you'd be wrong! Each year there are 800 deaths due to Heat Illness and figures in more temperate climates are significantly more. In this podcast we tackle the topic of Heat Illness, all the way through Heat Cramps, Heat Syncope, Heat Exhaustion and to Heat Stroke. We'll cover the following; Definition, clinical spectrum and categories Scale of the problem Thermoregulatory physiology Impact of hyperthermia Clinical findings Those at greatest risk Acclimatisation Differentials Management As always we'd love to hear any thoughts or comments you have on the website and via twitter, we look forward to hearing from you, and most importantly, we hope we haven't missed the summer heat wave...! Enjoy Simon, Rob & James
June 2019; papers of the month
Status Epilepticus in children, lying and standing blood pressures in syncope or presyncope and decompressing paediatric tension pneumothoraces. You'll no doubt have seen and heard about the two papers published this month in the Lancet, both Consept and Eclipse look at the use of keppra vs phenytoin as a second line anti convulsant therapy for children in status epilepticus. We take a look at both papers, and have a think about what this means for practice. There has been a large amount of focus on the optimal position for needle decompression of tension pneumothoraces in adults, but an open access paper from SJTREM looks at the best position in children, take a look at the paper here. Finally, should all patients with a presentation of syncope/presyncope be getting a lying and standing blood pressure, or is it an ineffective test? Make sure you take a look at the papers yourself, remembering that the paper from SJTREM on paediatric pneumothoraces is totally open access. We'd love to hear your thoughts and comments. Enjoy! Simon & Rob
Drowning; Roadside to Resus
Drowning is a huge worldwide problem, and here in the UK there are around 350 accidental deaths from drowning each year. From the patient who is potentially well enough for discharge on scene, all the way through to the resuscitation and prognostication of a cardiac arrest due to drowning, the topic carries a number of unique questions and challenges. In this podcast we run through; The scale of the problem Modes of drowning Prognostic factors Extrication Advanced Life Support in Drowning Termination of resuscitation Medical management As always we'd love to hear any thoughts or comments you have on the website and via twitter, we look forward to hearing from you. Enjoy! Simon, Rob & James
May 2019; papers of the month
So first up a huge welcome to SJTREM, the free open access journal who we've teamed up with in the delivery of the podcast, every paper they publish is available online to read for free. Each month we'll be covering one of their papers in our Papers of the Month episodes, giving you the opportunity to review the literature yourself, come to your own conclusions and join the conversation. SJTREM have made our podcast a sustainable venture and together we look forward to promoting review and discussion of the best evidence and education, to all, for free! This month we'll be looking at an analysis of REBOA and having a think about whether it is benefiting those patients that are receiving it. We take a look at paper that reviews what we really know about the use of ETCO2 in cardiac arrest and have a think about how much importance we should put on it. Finally we take a look at the utility of prehospital blood gases; should this be the standard of care, or is it a step too far?Make sure you take a look at the papers yourself, remembering that the paper from SJTREM on prehospital blood gases is totally open access. We'd love to hear your thoughts and comments. Enjoy! Simon & Rob
GCS 8, intubate?
'Patients with GCS scores of 8 or less require prompt intubation', that's what ATLS tells us. The mantra of GCS 8, intubate has pervaded teaching for those involved in the management of patients with a reduced GCS (Glasgow Coma Scale). But on reflection it would seem slightly odd that the gain or loss of a single point on the Glasgow Coma Scale could simply account for a change in the decision as to whether a patient would benefit from intubation and ventilation. So should the patient with a GCS of 9 be best managed without a definitive airway, but when that slips to 8 we should reach for the portex®? In this podcast we take a deeper look at the GCS, we have a think about the role that it was designed to perform and consider how it should best be applied to acutely ill patients when considering protecting their airway. The podcast is based upon the blog from the TEAM Course blog(Training in Emergency Airway Management), make sure to go and have a look at the post and other resources available on that site. Enjoy! Simon, Rob & James References GCS 8 intubate; TEAMcourse Advanced trauma life support (ATLS®): the ninth edition. J Trauma Acute Care Surg.2013;74(5):1363-6.Teasdale G, Jennett B. Assessment of coma and impaired consciousness. A practical scale. Lancet. 1974;2(7872):81-4. Teasdale G, Maas A, Lecky F, Manley G, Stocchetti N, Murray G.The Glasgow Coma Scale at 40 years: standing the test of time.Lancet Neurol. 2014;13(8):844-54. Duncan R, Thakore S. Decreased Glasgow Coma Scale score does not mandate endotracheal intubation in the emergency department. J Emerg Med. 2009;37(4):451-5. Green SM. Cheerio, laddie! Bidding farewell to the Glasgow Coma Scale.Ann Emerg Med. 2011;58(5):427-30. Healey C, Osler TM, Rogers FB, et al. Improving the Glasgow Coma Scale score: motor score alone is a better predictor.J Trauma. 2003;54(4):671-8. Isbister GK, Downes F, Sibbritt D, Dawson AH, Whyte IM. Aspiration pneumonitis in an overdose population: frequency, predictors, and outcomes.Crit Care Med. 2004;32(1):88-93. Adnet F, Baud F. Relation between Glasgow Coma Scale and aspiration pneumonia.Lancet. 1996;348(9020):123-4. Kulig K, Rumack BH, Rosen P. Gag reflex in assessing level of consciousness.Lancet. 1982;1(8271):565. Rotheray KR, Cheung PS, Cheung CS, et al. What is the relationship between the Glasgow coma scale and airway protective reflexes in the Chinese population?.Resuscitation. 2012;83(1):86-9. Moulton C, Pennycook A, Makower R. Relation between Glasgow coma scale and the gag reflex.BMJ. 1991;303(6812):1240-1.
April 2019; papers of the month
So we've got a massively important paper that we're going to kick off April's Papers of the Month podcast with, which is the RCT we've been waiting for; whether patients who have a ROSC should go to the cath lab, without a stemi, if the presumed cause is a coronary event? We've covered this topic in the past, for a background take a listen to PCI following ROSC and our December '17 papers of the month podcast. Next up, on the topic of over-testing, we have a look if we should be sending troponins and BNP's on our patients attending with syncope. Lastly, having spoken recently about the importance of ED airway registry's, we take a look at an open access paper from SJTREM that describes the practice, success and complication rates of ED advanced airway management. As always make sure you take a look at the papers yourselves and draw you own conclusions, we'd love to hear your thoughts. Enjoy! Simon & Rob References & Further Reading Coronary Angiography after Cardiac Arrest without ST-Segment Elevation. Lemkes JS. N Engl J Med.2019 Do High-sensitivity Troponin and Natriuretic Peptide Predict Death or Serious Cardiac Outcomes After Syncope? Clark CL. Acad Emerg Med.2019 Airway Management in the Emergency Department(The OcEAN-Study) - a prospective single centre observational cohort study. Bernhard M. Scand J Trauma Resusc Emerg Med.2019 PCI following ROSC podcast December 2017; Papers of the Month Podcast
Advanced Airway Management Updates
We were lucky enough to be back at the fantastic TraumaCare Conference last week. There were a whole host of fantastic talks on offer and the Emergency Medicine stream, arranged by our very own Rob Fenwick, included a pro/con debate on whether Emergency Medicine should be managing the trauma airway. During that debate a number of important papers were raised on the evolution and improvement in advanced airway management. In this podcast we'll run through some of the most important points from that talk. Make sure you take a look at the papers yourself and come to your own conclusions. Enjoy! Simon & Rob
March 2019; papers of the month
We've got a broad array of topics and papers for you this month! First up we look at a paper from the NEJM assessing the potential benefits in providing ventilations to patients undergoing an RSI. Next we look at patients presenting with both syncope and pre-syncope to the emergency department, this paper quantifies the risk that we should be apportioning to these two different presentations. Finally, we look at a paper that suggests the manual pulse check in CPR is dead, and that the time has come for doppler and ultrasound to replace it! As always make sure you take a look at the papers yourselves and draw you own conclusions, we'd love to hear your thoughts. Enjoy! Simon & Rob References & Further Reading Bag-Mask Ventilation during Tracheal Intubation of Critically Ill Adults. Casey JD. N Engl J Med.2019 Comparison of 30-Day Serious Adverse Clinical Events for Elderly Patients Presenting to the Emergency Department With Near-Syncope Versus Syncope. Bastani A. Ann Emerg Med.2019 Comparison of manual pulse palpation, cardiac ultrasonography and Doppler ultrasonography to check the pulse in cardiopulmonary arrest patients. Zengin S. Resuscitation.2018
Hypothermia; Roadside to Resus
Hypothermia is a common problem for both pre and in-hospital clinicians. Understanding the underpinning physiology helps us deliver first class care to our patients, decreasing associated morbidity and mortality. There is some extremely difficult decision making to be done in severe cases of hypothermia and the podcast gives us an opportunity to explore them further. We'll cover the subject in depth with particular reference to the following categories of hypothermia; treatment, modifications in cardiac arrest and prognostication. Enjoy! Simon, Rob & James References ERC 2015; Cariac arrest in specialist circumstances LITFL; hypothermia RCEMLearning; hypothermia Up to Date; Hypothermia At the bedside, out of the cold: management of hypothermia and frostbite.BiemJ.CMAJ. 2003 The prehospital management of hypothermia - An up-to-date overview. Haverkamp FJC. Injury. 2018 Accidentalhypothermia-an update: The content of this review is endorsed by the International Commission for Mountain Emergency Medicine (ICAR MEDCOM). Paal P. Scand J Trauma Resusc Emerg Med. 2016 Accidental hypothermia. Brown DJ. 2012 N Engl J Med.
February 2019; papers of the month
Ketamine and trauma are the topics for this months papers. The three papers we cover are really important for all of us involved in the care of critically unwell patients. Hypotensive resuscitation in the context of trauma has been an evolving area of practice in the treatment of our acute trauma victims. A paper published in SJTREM this month meta-analyses the data that exists out there on the topic and looks to give us an idea of the benefits and potential risks associated with such an approach, the paper is available here and is well worth a full read. Morphine has been a mainstay of the treatment of acute severe pain in the Emergency Department for decades, but as the popularity of ketamine grows we take a look at another meta-analysis, this time comparing the efficacy of ketamine versus morphine in this setting and group of patients. And lastly, if you have ever had a patient become severely agitated with ketamine sedation, you'll be keen to avoid that happening again! The last paper we look at is a randomised control trial looking at the potential benefits of using either midazolam or haloperidol to achieve that. We hope you find the podcast useful, as ever please go and take a look at the papers yourself and we'd love to hear any thought or comments you have either rat the bottom of the page, or via twitter @TheResusRoom. Enjoy! Simon & Rob References Risks and benefits of hypotensive resuscitation in patientswith traumatic hemorrhagic shock: a meta-analysis. Owattanapanich N. Scand J Trauma Resusc Emerg Med.2018 A Systematic Review and Meta-analysisof Ketamine as an Alternativeto Opioids for Acute Pain in the Emergency Department. Karlow N. Acad Emerg Med.2018 Premedication With Midazolamor Haloperidolt o Prevent Recovery Agitation in Adults Undergoing Procedural Sedation With Ketamine: A Randomized Double Blind Clinical Trial. Akhlaghi N. Ann Emerg Med.2019 St Emlyns; JC: Should we premedicate for ketamine sedation?
Shock; Roadside to Resus
If you're involved in the care of critically unwell patients then you will frequently encounter patients who are shocked. The European Society of Intensive Care Medicine defines shock as; 'Life-threatening, generalized form of acute circulatory failure associated with inadequate oxygen utilization by the cells. It is a state in which the circulation is unable to deliver sufficient oxygen to meet the demands of the tissues, resulting in cellular dysfunction.' The assessment for shock needs to be part of the routine workup of every potentially unwell patient. Shock carries with it a high mortality rate, a range of meaningful interventions and the potential to make a real difference to our patients' outcomes. In this podcast we cover Defining shock in adults Significance of shock What shock looks like A recap of cardiac physiology Causes of shock Ultrasound evaluation Fluid therapy Inotropes and vasopressors As always we'd love to hear any thoughts or comments you have on the website and via twitter, we look forward to hearing from you. Enjoy! Simon, Rob & James References Consensuson circulatory shockand hemodynamic monitoring. Task forceof the EuropeanSociety of Intensive Care Medicine. Cecconi M. Intensive Care Med.2014 NICE Intravenous fluid therapy in adults in hospital. Clinical guideline. December 2013 ALIEM; Choosing the right vasopressor agent in hypotension Resus; The Shock Index ALIEM; Shock Index: A Predictor of Morbidity and Mortality? A comparisonof the shockindexand conventionalvital signsto identifyacute, critical illnessin the emergency department. Rady MY. Ann Emerg Med.1994 TheResusRoom; Sepsis RCEM guidance; Noradrenaline Infusion Association between timing of antibiotic administration and mortality from septic shock in patients treated with a quantitative resuscitation protocol. Puskarich MA. Crit Care Med. 2011 Early goal-directed therapy in the treatment of severe sepsis and septic shock.Rivers E. N Engl J Med. 2001 Early lactate clearance is associated with improved outcome in severe sepsis and septic shock.Nguyen HB. Crit Care Med. 2004 Lactate clearance vs central venous oxygen saturation as goals of early sepsis therapy: a randomized clinical trial.Jones AE. JAMA. 2010 A randomized trial of protocol-based care for early septic shock.ProCESS Investigators. N Engl J Med. 2014 Early goal-directed therapyin the treatmentof severe sepsisand septic shock. Rivers E. N Engl J Med.2001 The significance of non-sustained hypotension in emergency department patients with sepsis.Marchick MR. Intensive Care Med. 2009 Risks and benefits of hypotensive resuscitation in patients with traumatic hemorrhagic shock: a meta-analysis.Natthida Owattanapanich. Scand J Trauma Resusc Emerg Med. 2018. TheResusRoom; The Crystalloid Debate
January 2019; papers of the month
Happy New Year!! Hopefully you got a bit of downtime over the festive period and are feeling suitably refreshed and ready to attack 2019! We've got 3 great papers to kick off the year. First up we look at the recent PReVENT trial which looks at ventilator strategies in patients without ARDS with respect to tidal volumes. This paper continues the work from the much cited ARDSNet paper from 2000, and we'd highly recommend you go and have a look at that paper first. Next we look at another paper from JAMA which compares Thrombolysis to Aspirin in minor non-disabling strokes. We say enough about this one in the podcast, but for a bit of background to our thoughts and the evidence surrounding stroke, check out our previous Stroke Thrombolysis podcast. Lastly we have a look at a paper investigating their systems use of push-dose-pressors, which whilst not the most methodologically sound piece of research, certainly brings out some interesting thoughts and points. As always make sure you take a look at the papers yourselves and we'd love to hear and comments or feedback you've got. Enjoy! Simon & Rob References & Further Reading Effectof a LowvsIntermediateTidalVolumeStrategyon Ventilator-FreeDaysin IntensiveCareUnitPatientsWithout ARDS: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA.2018 Writing Group for the PReVENT Investigators Ventilationwith lowertidal volumesas comparedwith traditionaltidal volumesfor acute lung injury and the acute respiratory distress syndrome. Acute Respiratory Distress SyndromeNetwork. N Engl J Med.2000 PReVENT; The Bottom Line EMCrit; Vent and Prevent, an update Effectof AlteplasevsAspirinon FunctionalOutcomefor PatientsWith AcuteIschemicStrokeand MinorNondisabling Neurologic Deficits: The PRISMS Randomized Clinical Trial. Khatri P. JAMA.2018 TheResusRoom; Stroke Thrombolysis podcast Push dose pressors: Experience in critically ill patients outside of the operating room. Rotando A. Am J Emerg Med.2018
Christmas Special '18
Festive greetings to all! We hope you've had a fantastic 2018 and have some time off over Xmas and New Year to celebrate with friends and family. We thought we'd bring you some of the most influential papers that we've read over the last 12 months, that haven't necessarily fitted in that closely with some of the topics we've covered...we hope you enjoy! Thanks for all of your support with the podcast throughout 2018 and we wish you a very happy 2019. Simon, Rob & James References Pediatric golf cart trauma: Not par for the course. Tracy BM. J Pediatr Surg. 2018 What to eat and drink in the festive season: a pan-European, observational, cross-sectional study. Parker HL, et al. Eur J Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2017. Work of Breathing into Snow in the Presence versus Absence of an Artificial Air Pocket Affects Hypoxia and Hypercapnia of a Victim Covered with Avalanche Snow: A Randomized Double Blind Crossover Study. Karel Roubík. PLoS One. 2015.
Cardiac Arrest Masterclass; London Trauma Conference 2018
Cardiac arrest management is core business of a resuscitationist and practice is constantly evolving in the pursuit of improving patient outcomes. We were lucky enough to be invited to the London Trauma Conference's Cardiac Arrest Masterclass stream, where Matt Thomas put on a superb array of talks around all things cardiac arrest. We managed to borrow a bit of time from some of the speakers and caught up with some of the topics covered including; airway management, ECGs pre/post arrest, POCUS, CRM and breaking bad news. We found the day hugely useful and we hope the podcast sums up some of the great points from the day. Enjoy! Simon, Rob & James References London Trauma Conference AIRWAYS-2; podcast SPIKES Protocol LITFL; Killer ECG Patterns Beyondprognostication: ambulancepersonnel's livedexperiencesof cardiacarrestdecision-making. Anderson NE. Emerg Med J.2018 Zero Talent Battle
December 2018; papers of the month
Well the year maybe coming to a close but the high quality papers keep on coming out! We've got 3 great articles to cover in this episode which have some key points to reflect on in our practice. First up we take a look at the application of Canadian c-spine rules by ED triage nurses and the potential impact this approach could hold. Next up we have a look at the addition of magnesium to current ED rate control of uncompromised patients presenting with rapid AF. Lastly we look at a paper on the conservative management of traumatic pneumothoraces, including those undergoing positive pressure ventilation, which reviews the complication rate of this approach. As always make sure you take a look at the papers yourselves and form your own opinions, we would love to hear you comments and feedback. Enjoy! Simon & Rob References & Further Reading Ian G. Stiell, Catherine M. Clement, Maureen Lowe, Connor Sheehan, Jacqueline Miller, Sherry Armstrong, Brenda Bailey, Kerry Posselwhite, Jannick Langlais, Karin Ruddy, Susan Thorne, Alison Armstrong, Catherine Dain, Jeffrey J. Perry, Christian Vaillancourt, 2018, 'A Multicenter Program to Implement the Canadian C-Spine Rule by Emergency Department Triage Nurses', Annals of Emergency Medicine, vol. 72, no. 4, pp. 333-341 Wahid Bouida, Kaouthar Beltaief, Mohamed Amine Msolli, Noussaiba Azaiez, Houda Ben Soltane, Adel Sekma, Imen Trabelsi, Hamdi Boubaker, Mohamed Habib Grissa, Mehdi Methemem, Riadh Boukef, Zohra Dridi, Asma Belguith, Semir Nouira, 2018, 'Low‐dose Magnesium Sulfate Versus High Dose in the Early Management of Rapid Atrial Fibrillation: Randomized Controlled Double‐blind Study (LOMAGHI Study)', Academic Emergency Medicine Steven P. Walker, Shaney L. Barratt, Julian Thompson, Nick A. Maskell, 2018, 'Conservative Management in Traumatic Pneumothoraces', Chest, vol. 153, no. 4, pp. 946-953 SGEM#232: I Can See Clearly Now the Collar is Gone – Thanks to the Triage Nurse London Trauma Conference; Cardiac Arrest Masterclass
Chemical Burns, Maternal arrest, Amputation and Mental Toughness; BASICSFPHC18 Day 2
We were delighted to be back to cover the joint Faculty of Prehospital Care and BASICS conference, day 2, held at the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. Again we were absolutely spoilt for choice when it came to content for the podcasts but we managed to catch up with: • Dr Anne Weaver – a consultant in Emergency Medicine and Prehospital Care working for the Royal London Hospital and London HEMS. She talked to us about chemical burns and a novel treatment for managing these injuries. • Dr Virginia Beckett – an Obstetrics and Gynaecology consultant who is a member of the mMOET working group and has recently published on the topic of cardiac arrest in pregnancy. She was talking on the topic of resuscitative hysterotomy. • Sam Cooper – a Critical Care Paramedic from Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Rutland Air Ambulance who discussed a case of prehospital amputation and the learning points that arose from it. • Dr Rob Lloyd – an Emergency Medicine trainee, blogger and fellow podcaster who has an interest in performance psychology. He talked about Mental Toughness, framed by his experiences working in a hospital deep in a South African township. Once again, our thanks to Caroline Leech for being instrumental in the organisation of today and inviting us up. We're already looking forward to next year…. Enjoy! Simon, Rob & James References PonderMed Diphoterine A video showing a similar demonstration to the one at the conference showing why Diphoterine works and the limitations of water Pre-hospital Obstetric Emergency Training; POET VA Beckett, M Knight, P Sharpe, 2017, 'The CAPS Study: incidence, management and outcomes of cardiac arrest in pregnancy in the UK: a prospective, descriptive study', BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, vol. 124, no. 9, pp. 1374-1381 Realtime simulation of peri-mortem c-section; Bradford Teaching Hospital K. M. Porter, 2010, 'Prehospital amputation', Emergency Medicine Journal, vol. 27, no. 12, pp. 940-942 Caroline Leech, Keith Porter, 2016, 'Man or machine? An experimental study of prehospital emergency amputation', Emergency Medicine Journal, vol. 33, no. 9, pp. 641-644
Sick Paeds, Extrication and Drowning; BASICSFPHC18 Day 1
We were delighted to be invited to cover the joint Faculty of Prehospital Care and BASICS conference held at the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. This two-day prehospital extravaganza covered a broad range of topics and the content was delivered by some excellent speakers. As such, we were absolutely spoilt for choice when it came to content for the podcasts but we managed to catch up with: Dr Abi Hoyle – a paediatric emergency medicine consultant with a background in military and retrieval services. She gave us some key tips when dealing with paediatric patients. Ian Dunbar – a technical and medical rescue consultant with years of experience in the UK Fire and Rescue Service and ongoing involvement with British Touring Car Championship and the FIA. He did some myth busting around extrication from vehicles. Professor Mike Tipton – a leading figure in extreme physiology who is the Associate Head of Research at the Extreme Environments Laboratory in Portsmouth, is trustee/director of Surf Life Saving GB, sits on the medical committee for the RNLI and was awarded an MBE for services to physiological research in extreme environments. Mike spoke on the topic of drowning. Massive thanks to Dr Caroline Leech who put together this brilliant programme and extended the invitation to us. We hope you enjoy the podcast and extract some learning to inform your practice. Enjoy! Simon, Rob & James References Resus Council UK; Prehospital Resuscitation Michael J. Shattock, Michael J. Tipton, 2012, ''Autonomic conflict': a different way to die during cold water immersion?',The Journal of Physiology, vol. 590, no. 14, pp. 3219-3230 Faculty of Pre-Hospital Care and Basics Conference
Cricoid Pressure; Roadside to Resus
We've heard a lot about advanced airway management recently, with some really significant publications over the last few months and in the last few weeks in JAMA we've had another! Cricoid pressure during emergency anaesthesia and for those at high risk of aspiration has been common place for more than half a century. But it's a topic that has caused quite some debate. On one hand it has the potential to reduce aspiration, a very real and potentially very serious complication of RSI. But on the other it has the potential to hinder the view on laryngoscopy and decrease first pass success. The founding evidence for cricoid pressure has always been a little soft. In this podcast we look at the background of cricoid pressure and then run through this key paper, discussing the implications it holds for both pre and in-hospital advanced airway management. As always we'd love to hear any thoughts or comments you have on the website and via twitter, we look forward to hearing from you. Enjoy! Simon, Rob & James References Effect of Cricoid Pressure Compared With a Sham Procedure in the Rapid Sequence Induction of Anaesthesia: The IRIS Randomized Clinical Trial. Birenbaum A. JAMA Surg 2018 Cricoid pressure to control regurgitation of stomach contents during induction of anaesthesia. Sellick BA Lancet.1961 Safer Prehospital Anaesthesia 2017;AAGBI JC: Cricoid Pressure and RSI, do we still need it?St Emlyn's Cricoid: To press, or not to press?(Hinds and May)
November 2018; papers of the month
Welcome back to November's Papers Podcast! We've got 3 great papers for you again this month. First up we take a look at a paper that looks to quantify the amount of experience needed to be a proficient intubator, in this case in arrest. Next we have a look at a paper which shows a significant difference in mortality in cardiac arrest dependant on the intravascular access route used. Finally we have a look a really interesting paper in the dispatch method of a HEMS service which we be of real interest to all those involved in paramedicine and prehospital critical care. Make sure you take a look at the papers themselves and form your own opinions. We'd love to hear any thoughts and feedback you have. Enjoy! Simon & Rob References & Further Reading How much experience do rescuers require to achieve successful tracheal intubation during cardiopulmonary resuscitation? Kim SY. Resuscitation.2018 A novel method of non-clinical dispatch is associated with a higher rate of criticalHelicopter Emergency Medical Service intervention. Munro S .Scand J Trauma Resusc Emerg Med.2018 Intraosseous Vascular Access Is Associated With Lower Survival and Neurologic Recovery Among Patients With Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest. Kawano T. Ann Emerg Med.2018
Burns; Roadside to Resus
With bonfire night approaching we thought it would be a good time to have a think about burns. However burns are a significant issue at all times of year with around 130,000 presentations to UK EDs annually, 10,000 cases are admitted to hospital, 500 of these have severe burns and 200 of these will die. But most importantly intervention that we make can make a big difference to both morbidity and mortality, really affecting outcomes. Throughout this episode we'll be covering the essential first responder management, all the way through to the critical care that maybe required for the sickest of burns patients. In the podcast we cover Burn type and burn severity The importance of history Assessing burn extent Assessing burn depth The A-E assessment and specifics regarding the burns patient NAI, antibiotics, tetanus cover, analgesia, special circumstances eyes & chemicals Conveyance and destination As always we'd love to hear any thoughts or comments you have on the website and via twitter, we look forward to hearing from you. Enjoy! Simon, Rob & James References British Burn Association First Aid Clinical Practice Guidelines BBA Clinical Practice Guideline for Management of Burn Blisters BBA Clinical Practice Guideline for Deroofing Burn Blisters RCEMLearning; Major Trauma, Burns National Burn Care Referral Guidance WHO; fact sheet on burns NHS Standard Contract for Specialised Burns Care (All Ages) Schedule 2- The Services A. Service Specification LITFL; burns Clinical review: The critical care management of the burn patient. Jane A Snell. Crit Care 2013 Fluid resuscitation in major burns. Mitra B ANZ J Surg. 2006 How well does the Parkland formula estimate actual fluid resuscitation volumes? Cartotto RC. J Burn Care Rehabil. 2002 Fluid resuscitation management in patients with burns: update. Guilabert P. Br J Anaesth. 2016 ISBI Practice Guidelines for Burn Care 2016
October 2018; papers of the month
Welcome back to October's Papers Podcast, this month we move airway from advanced airway management and bring you a broad array of papers. First up we have a look at the relative success of a variety of pharmacological strategies for managing the acutely agitated patient in ED. Next up we have look at the well know CURB-65 score and it's ability to predict the need for critical care interventions. Lastly, we may all feel at times that performing a CT head on those well patients solely because they take anticoagulants may be a little on the excessive side, we review a paper that looks at the yield of positive scans in this cohort. As ever don't just take our word for it, go and have a look at the papers yourself, we would love to hear any comments or feedback you have. Enjoy! Simon & Rob References & Further Reading IntramuscularMidazolam, Olanzapine, Ziprasidone, or Haloperidolfor TreatingAcuteAgitationin the Emergency Department. Klein LR. Ann Emerg Med. 2018 Performanceof the CURB-65Scorein PredictingCritical CareInterventionsin PatientsAdmitted With Community-AcquiredPneumonia.Ilg A. Ann Emerg Med.2018 Incidenceof intracranial bleedingin anticoagulatedpatientswith minor head injury: a systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective studies. Minhas H. Br J Haematol.2018
September 2018; papers of the month
So we're back with September's papers of the month a little later than usual but we wanted to give you a little time to digest AIRWAYS-2... before we give you some more prehospital research on advanced airway management in cardiac arrest! The American version of AIRWAYS-2, PART, has just been released in JAMA, looking at the laryngeal tube versus endotracheal intubation as a primary strategy for advanced airway management. The paper is fascinating accompaniment to AIRWAYS-2. Next we have a look at a paper assessing Emergency Medicine clinicians' ability to predict hospital admission at the time of triage, should we be making early calls on the destination of our patients? Finally we have a look at the potential role of esmolol in cases of refractory VF and a paper that reports twice the survival rates in those that receive it! As always we strongly suggest you have a look at the papers yourself and come to your own conclusions. Make sure you check out the hyperlinked blogs below that we mention in the podcast that contain some fantastic critiques. We'd also love to hear any comments either at the foot of this page or on twitter to @TheResusRoom. Enjoy! Simon & Rob References & Further Reading Effect of a Strategy of Initial Laryngeal Tube Insertion vs Endotracheal Intubation on 72-Hour Survival in Adults With Out-of-Hospital Cardiac ArrestA Randomized Clinical Trial. Henry E. Wang, MD. 2018 Emergency medicinephysicians' abilityto predicthospital admissionat the timeof triage. Vlodaver ZK. Am J Emerg Med.2018 Use of esmolol after failure of standard cardiopulmonary resuscitation to treat patientswith refractory ventricular fibrillation. Driver BE. Resuscitation.2014 King Laryngeal Tube
Intubation or supraglottic airway in cardiac arrest; AIRWAYS-2
So we're back from our summer hiatus with a real treat. The long awaited AIRWAYS-2 paper has just been released and we've been lucky enough to speak with the lead author, Professor Jonathan Benger, about the paper and discuss what the findings mean for cardiac arrest management. AIRWAYS-2 looks at the initial advanced airway management strategy for paramedics attending out of hospital cardiac arrests, essentially whether or not the aim should be to place a supraglottic airway device or an endotracheal tube when advancing from simple airway techniques. The study was a huge undertaking with many speculating over how the results would change practice, including discussion of how it may affect paramedic's practice of intubation, all of which we cover in the podcast. Before you listen to the podcast make sure you have a look at the paper yourself, have a listen to PHEMCAST's previous episode which covers the study design and have a look at the infographics on the website which summarise the primary outcome and secondary analysis and which we refer to in the interview with Professor Benger. In the podcast we refer to Jabre's paper which can be found below and we also covered in May's papers podcast. Have a listen to the interview and let us know any thoughts or feedback you have, we're sure this one will create a lot of discussion! Simon, Rob & James References & Further Reading Effect of a Strategy of a Supraglottic Airway Device vs Tracheal Intubation During Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest on Functional Outcome. The AIRWAYS-2 Randomized Clinical Trial. Benger J. JAMA. 2018 PHEMCAST; the LMA Effect of Bag-Mask Ventilation vs Endotracheal Intubation During Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation on Neurological Outcome After Out-of-Hospital Cardiorespiratory Arrest: A Randomised Clinical Trial. Jabre P. JAMA. 2018 TEAM Course
August 2018; papers of the month
Welcome to August's papers of the month. So this is our last offering for the summer until whilst we take a short break until September, so we had to finish off we 3 great papers! First up we look at the drug of the moment (or decade...) in tranexamic acid and the effect that it has on outcomes in primary intracerebral haemorrhage. Next, what role does point of care ultrasound (POCUS) hold in the patient presenting with undifferentiated shock? We look at a randomised control trial of POCUS in this patient cohort that assesses the ability to translate POCUS into a mortality benefit. Finally we look at a delphi study published in the EMJ which explores expert opinion upon multiple aspects of paediatric traumatic arrests. The results are fascinating and may inform some of the CRM used in the next case you see. As always we strongly suggest you have a look at the papers yourself and come to your own conclusions. Make sure you check out the hyperlinked blogs below that we mention in the podcast that contain some fantastic critiques. We'd also love to hear any comments either at the foot of this page or on twitter to @TheResusRoom. Enjoy! Simon & Rob References & Further Reading Tranexamic acid for hyperacute primary IntraCerebral Haemorrhage (TICH-2): an international randomised, placebo-controlled, phase 3 superiority trial. Sprigg N. Lancet. 2018 Does Point-of-Care Ultrasonography Improve Clinical Outcomes in Emergency Department Patients With UndifferentiatedHypotension? An International Randomized Controlled Trial From the SHoC-ED Investigators. Atkinson PR. Ann Emerg Med. 2018 Paediatric traumatic cardiac arrest: a Delphi study to establish consensus on definition and management. Rickard AC. Emerg Med J. 2018 St Emlyns JC; Tich Tich Boom? First10EM; TXA in ICH (TICH-2)
Adrenaline in Cardiac Arrest; PARAMEDIC2
Drugs in cardiac arrest are controversial. Prehospital research is notoriously difficult to perform. PARAMEDIC2 has just published in the New England Journal of Medicine and is a multi centre randomised placebo controlled trial looking at adrenaline (or epinephrine depending on which side of the pond you reside) in out of hospital cardiac arrest, no mean undertaking and a landmark paper. The paper has gained a huge amount of traction online with multiple blogs discussing the primary outcome which showed a higher survival rate in those receiving adrenaline when compared to placebo. This has been accompanied with a firm debate over the secondary outcomes, which include the rate of survival with a favourable neurological outcome (mRS 0-3), which showed no statistically significant difference between the two treatment arms, but in pure numbers gave a higher proportion of favourable outcomes in the adrenaline group. The trade off for this increased survival is the significant number of survivors with a poor neurological outcome. The question on everyone's lips then being; should we continue to administer adrenaline in cardiac arrest given the findings from this study? In the podcast we run over the main findings of the paper and are lucky enough to speak to the lead author Professor Gavin Perkins about the paper and some of the questions we and you have had following publication of the paper. A huge thanks to Gavin for taking the time to do this. Have a listen, enjoy, and let us know any thoughts or feedback you have Simon, Rob & James References & Further Reading PARAMEDIC2; Warwick University Clinical Trials Unit A Randomized Trial of Epinephrine in Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest. Perkins GD. N Engl J Med. 2018 PARAMEDIC2 Protocol Testing Epinephrine for Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest. Callaway CW. N Engl J Med. 2018 First10EMParamedic 2: Epinephrine harms/helps in out of hospital cardiac arrest REBEL Cast Ep56 PARAMEDIC-2: Time to Abandon Epinephrine in OHCA?
Head Injury; Roadside to Resus
Head injury worldwide is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality. Besides prevention there isn't anything that can be done to improve the results from the primary brain injury, there is however a phenomenal amount that can be done to reduce the secondary brain injury that patients suffer, both from a prehospital and in hospital point of view. In the podcast we run through head injuries, all the way from initial classification and investigation, to specifics of treatment including neuro protective anaesthesia and hyperosmolar therapy, to give a sound overview of the management of these patients. As always we welcome feedback via the website or on Twitter and we look forward to hearing from you. Enjoy! Simon, Rob & James References & Further Reading Risk of Delayed Intracranial Hemorrhage in Anticoagulated Patients with Mild Traumatic Brain Injury: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Chauny JM. J Emerg Med. Jul 26 2016 Mannitol or hypertonic saline in the setting of traumatic brain injury: What have we learned? Boone MD. Surg Neurol Int. 2015 Life in the fast lane; hypertonic saline Life in the fast lane; Traumatic brain injury Traumatic brain injury in England and Wales: prospective audit of epidemiology, complications and standardised mortality. T Lawrence. BMJ Open. 2016 Epidemiology of traumatic brain injuries in Europe: a cross-sectional analysis. M.Majdan. The Lancet. 2016 The inefficiency of plain radiography to evaluate the cervical spine after blunt trauma. Gale SC. J Trauma. 2005 What is the relationship between the Glasgow coma scale and airway protective reflexes in the Chinese population? Rotheray KR. Resuscitation. 2012 NICE Head Injury Guidelines 2014 MDCALC Canadian Head Injury TheResusRoom; The AHEAD Study TheResusRoom; Anticoagulation, head injury & delayed bleeds Management of Perceived Devastating Brain Injury After Hospital Admission; A consensus statement A case for stopping the early withdrawal of life sustaining therapies in patients with devastating brain injuries. Manara AR. J Intensive Care Soc. 2016
July 2018; papers of the month
Welcome to July's papers podcast. There has been a plethora of superb and thought provoking papers published this month and we've got the best 3 that caught our eye for you. In this episode we look at the potential benefit of early vs late endoscopy in patients presenting with an acute upper GI bleed. Next we look at both intra and post ROSC hyperoxia and the associated outcomes. Finally we have a look at the utility of straight leg raise as a test to rule out potential pelvicfractures in out trauma patients. We strongly suggest you source the papers and come to your own conclusions and we'd love to hear any comments either at the foot of this page or on twitter to @TheResusRoom. Enjoy! Simon & Rob References & Further Reading Delayed endoscopy is associated with increased mortality in upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage. Jeong N. Am J Emerg Med. 2018 Association between intra- and post-arrest hyperoxia on mortality in adults with cardiac arrest: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Patel JK. Resuscitation. 2018 Straight leg elevation to rule out pelvic injury. Bolt C. Injury. 2018
External Haemorrhage; Roadside to Resus
Managing external haemorrhage is easy right?! Then why does haemorrhage remain a major cause of death from trauma worldwide? Ok, some of that is from internal sources, but…. No one should die from compressible external haemorrhage With the right treatment applied in a timely fashion, the vast majority of these bleeds can be stopped. But with new advances like haemostatic agents, changing advice surrounding tourniquet use and practice changing evidence coming out of conflict zones can mean it's difficult to remain current with the latest best practice. So what options are available to us, how do we use them and what's the evidence. Here's the line-up for this months' podcast: Haemorrhage control ladder Evidence based guidelines on haemorrhage control Direct pressure Enhanced pressure dressings Haemostatic agents and wound packing Tourniquets Case studies As always we welcome feedback via the website or on Twitter and we look forward to your engagement. Enjoy! Simon, Rob & James References & Further Reading Bennett, B. L & Littlejohn, L. (2014) Review of new topical hemostatic dressings for combat casualty care. Military Medicine. Volume 179, number 5, pp497-514. Lee, C., Porter, K. M & Hodgetts, T. J. (2007) Tourniquet use in the civilian prehospital setting. Emergency Medicine Journal. Volume 24, pp584-7. Nutbeam, T & Boylan, M. (2013) ABC of prehospital emergency medicine. Wiley Blackwell. London. Shokrollahi, K., Sharma, H & Gakhar, H. (2008) A technique for temporary control of haemorrhage. The Journal of Emergency Medicine. Volume 34, number 3, pp319-20. Trauma! Extremity Arterial Hemorrhage; LITFL The European guideline on management of major bleeding and coagulopathy following trauma: fourth edition. Rolf Rossaint. Critical Care 2016. NICE 2016. Major Trauma; Assessment and Initial Management FPHC 2017; Position statement on the application of Tourniquets
June 2018; papers of the month
Welcome back to our monthly round up of the best papers in the resuscitation world. Again we've got 3 great papers covering some really important points of practice. First up we have a look at one of the most talked about diagnostic tests in Emergency Medicine, Troponin. We're are always looking to increase the sensitivity of the assay and test in order to ensure the patient hasn't got Acute Coronary Syndrome, but what are the implications of implementing a high sensitivity test? In our first paper we have a look at this exact scenario, the difference in patient outcomes and some of the resource implications to the service. Next up we have a look at apnoeic oxygeationn. We've covered this a number of times before and most recently in our Roadside to Resus episode on RSI. This time we have a look at the most recent systematic review and meta-analysis on the topic to see if there is more definitive evidence of benefit with this technique. Lastly we've found a paper that suggests a place for prognosticating off pH in cardiac arrest, is this something we should be adopting? Have a listen but most importantly have a look at the papers yourself and let us know your thoughts. Enjoy! Simon & Rob References & Further Reading Low-level troponin elevations following a reduced troponin I cutoff: Increased resource utilization without improved outcomes. Becker BA. Am J Emerg Med. 2018 Effectiveness of Apneic Oxygenation During Intubation: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Oliveira J E Silva L. Ann Emerg Med. 2017 Association between acidosis and outcome in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest patients. Lin CC. Am J Emerg Med. 2018.
Paediatric Arrest; Roadside to Resus
The management of a cardiac arrest can be stressful at the best of times, but add into that the patient being a child and you have the potential for an overwhelmingly stressful situation. Fortunately the major resuscitation bodies have some sound guidance on the management of paediatric arrests. In this episode we run through some of those guidelines and also the evidence base on the topic (scant at best!). We also touch on conveyance of the prehospital paediatric arrest, bringing familiy into the resuscitation area and knowing when to cease resuscitation. We hope the podcast helps you prepare that little bit more for the next case you might see and that it may also ease the stress of such an emotive case. Simon, Rob & James
Top 10 Trauma Papers 2018
Professor Simon Carley from St. Emlyns caught up with us at the superb Trauma Care Conference and talked through his top papers in trauma from the last 12 months. There's something for everyone from diagnosing arterial injuries, blood pressure targets in the head injury patient, to i.v. contrast all the way through to imaging in kids. If you haven't already, make sure you go and check out the St Emlyn's blog that underpins the talk that Simon gave. And if you're looking for a great value conference to suit all health care disciplines then make sure to keep an eye out for tickets when they go on sale for Trauma Care 2019. A huge thanks to Simon C for his time recording the podcast and we'd love to hear any comments or feedback. Enjoy! Simon L & Simon C References & Further Reading For all the papers pop over to the St Emlyn's blog for the hyperlinks and abstracts
May 2018; papers of the month
Dare we say it, we think this month's papers podcast is the best yet, we've got 3 superb papers and topics to consider! The literature has been pretty airway heavy this month so we've got 3 papers on and around the topic for you. First up we have a look at a really interesting paper from London HEMS looking at the risks v benefit of prehospital rapid sequence intubation in patients who are awake but hypotensive, is RSI a much needed move or something we should be looking to avoid prehospitally. Airways-2 will soon be published looking at supraglottic airway management compared to intubation as first line airway management in out of hospital cardiac arrest, but JAMA has just published a paper comparing bag-mask ventilation vs endotracheal intubation in the same situation. It'll be interesting to see if this papers results fall inline with Airways-2. Finally we take a look at a systematic review trying to give us the answer to direct or video laryngoscopy in emergency endotracheal intubation outside the OR. Have a listen but most importantly have a look at the papers yourself and let us know your thoughts. Enjoy! Simon & Rob References & Further Reading Pre-hospital emergency anaesthesia in awake hypotensive trauma patients: beneficial or detrimental? Crewdson K. Acta Anaesthesiol Scand. 2018 Effect of Bag-Mask Ventilation vs Endotracheal Intubation During Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation on Neurological Outcome AfterOut-of-Hospital Cardiorespiratory Arrest: A Randomized Clinical Trial. Jabre P. JAMA. 2018 Videolaryngoscopy versus direct laryngoscopy for emergency orotracheal intubation outside the operating room: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Arulkumaran N. Br J Anaesth. 2018
Statistics Demystified
Evidence based medicine (EBM) allows us to deliver the best care to our patients and understanding the concepts involved is crucial. Over the last 18 month we've been building an online course to give people a sound understanding of EBM and we thought we'd give you a free taster of what it's all about. Have a listen to one of our episodes here on statistics and if you want to find out more have a read below about the full course at www.CriticalAppraisalLowdown.co.uk Enjoy! Simon, Rob & James
Trauma Care 2018
For this episode we've been lucky enough to catch a number of the speakers from the traumacare conference. First up, conference organiser Caroline Leech (EM + PHEM consultant) gave us a few minutes of her time to talk about the latest major trauma key performance indicators from NICE. Nicola Curry (Consultant Haematologist) spoke about transfusion in trauma and the use of massive haemorrhage protocols. Importantly, she covers the evidence behind the current strategies and where future research opportunities exist. Stuart Reid (EM + PHEM consultant) covered the ways of optimising timely transfer of major trauma patients. This had an inter-hospital focus, but there were certainly some elements which can be applied to a primary patient transfer. David Raven (EM consultant) provided an update to the ongoing work with the HECTOR project. We've previously heard about their amazing course but this time he was able to let us know about the "silver trauma safety net" which is being used by the ambulance service in the West Midlands. This aims to provide appropriate recognition and triage of trauma in the elderly population. Finally, Elspeth Hulse (anaesthetic SpR) gave us a timely reminder about the identification and management of organophosphate poisoning - really useful from both and EM and PHEM perspective. Thanks again to Caroline for the invite to the conference and keep and eye out for a special podcast in the next few weeks where Simon Carley will be running through his top 10 trauma papers of 2017/18 (we were going to try and condense it, but there was way too much good stuff!) Enjoy! Simon, Rob & James References & Further Reading Trauma Care St Emlyns HECTOR
A case to make you think...
In this episode Rob takes us through a case he saw recently that brought about some invaluable learning. We're not going to give you anymore clues than that! Enjoy! Simon & Rob References & Further Reading (anonymised to keep the anticipation!) Article 1 Article 2 Article 3 Article 4
April 2018; papers of the month
Welcome back to April's papers of the month. We've got 3 papers this month that look to challenge our work up strategies for the critically unwell. First up we look at a paper on the Ottawa subarachnoid haemorrhage rule, specifically considering if we can decrease scanning in patients with a suspected SAH and what application of the rule might mean for our practice. Next up we look at a paper that might shine some real doubt on the use of IO access in our patients in cardiac arrest. Lastly we look at a validation paper for the PERC rule for those patients with a suspected pulmonary embolus and this paper brings about some interesting points on external validity Once again we'd really encourage you to have a look at the papers yourself and we've love to hear any thoughts or feedback you have. Enjoy! Simon & Rob References Validation of the Ottawa Subarachnoid Hemorrhage Rule in patients with acute headache. Perry JJ. CMAJ. 2017 Intraosseous Vascular Access Is Associated With Lower Survival and Neurologic Recovery Among Patients With Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest. Kawano T. Ann Emerg Med. 2018 Effect of the Pulmonary Embolism Rule-Out Criteria on Subsequent Thromboembolic Events Among Low-Risk Emergency Department Patients: The PROPER Randomized Clinical Trial. Freund Y. JAMA. 2018 CORE EM; IO in Cardiac Arrest