Tactical Medicine News Blog

Background: Just a few months ago the surviving sepsis campaign published their international guidelines for management of sepsis and septic shock [1].  There has been a lot of talk in the FOAM world about sepsis 3.0 and this is the first update since the introduction. This was a 67 page document that made a total of 93 statements on the early management and resuscitation of patients with sepsis or septic shock.  1/3 of the statements were strong recommendations and just over 1/3 were weak recommendations. Instead of going through every component of this document, we thought we would discuss one of the potentially biggest components of sepsis care that  would affect clinical practice for those of us on the front lines. One of the main reasons we have seen a mortality decrease in sepsis overtime is due to the proactive nature health care professionals have taken in sepsis management.  The so called ABC’s of sepsis management: Early identification, Early fluids, and Early antibiotics. One of the biggest components of this is early identification of these patients.

A man was bitten twice on the dorsal radial aspect of his right hand while feeding his pet West African Bush Viper. The patient immediately tied multiple tourniquets around his right arm before presenting to the emergency department. During examination he is complaining of swelling and severe pain in his right upper extremity, but has no other complaints. What are the appropriate next steps in managing this patient? Apply ice to the bites Measure compartment pressures in the right arm and forearm Perform a fasciotomy Remove the tourniquets and order hematologic studies Use a venom extractor to reduce venom burden

Welcome to season 4, episode 7 of the ALiEM Medical Education in Cases (MEdIC) series! Our team (Drs. Tamara McColl, Teresa Chan, John Eicken, Sarah Luckett-Gatopoulos, Eve Purdy, Alkarim Velji and Brent Thoma) is pleased to welcome you to our online community of practice where we discuss the practice of academic medicine! This month, we present a case of an emergency attending who questions the common consultant call-etiquette of not contacting attending physicians to provide back-up on a busy call shift.

Background: Over the past few years there has been a shift in cardiac arrest from the mantra of ABC (Airway, Breathing, Circulation) to CAB (Circulation, Airway, Breathing).  There has been increased emphasis on circulation and a de-emphasis of airway management in cardiac arrest.  Physiologically, this makes sense as the only two interventions in cardiac arrest that have been shown to make a difference in neurological outcomes are early, high quality CPR and defibrillation.  The reason for this is increased coronary and cerebral perfusion pressure, which improve oxygenation to ischemic tissue.  The less ischemic cardiomyocytes are the more likely they will convert to a perfusing rhythm.  Similarly, the less ischemic neurons are, the more likely we will have a better neurologic outcome for our patients.  It has been fairly well established in the peer reviewed literature that advanced airway management in the prehospital setting is associated with decreased survival with good neurologic outcome.  There is considerably less literature exploring this area in in-hospital cardiac arrest.

Airway management requires a lot things; it requires not only technical skills and specific considerations of anatomy and physiology but a co-ordinated team who can communicate clearly and react to a whole slew of potentially challenging situations. On this month's Best Case Ever podcast we use the framework of a new mnemonic PREPARE to discuss human factors, situational awareness and some airway tips and tricks with intensivist Peter Brindley, human factors expert Chris Hicks and EM-intensivist Sara Gray... The post Best Case Ever 57 PREPARE mnemonic for Airway Management appeared first on Emergency Medicine Cases.