Tactical Medicine News Blog

Recently on my ED shifts, there were several especially challenging endotracheal intubation scenarios. A patient with thick frothy sputum constantly oozing out her trachea such that we couldn’t see the vocal cords– no matter how much suction we used. Imagine the Diet Coke and Mentos backyard experiment. I’m not kidding. A 300+ pound agitated trauma patient with almost no neck, who eventually was found to have an epidural and subdural hemorrhage. A COPD patient who was increasingly lethargic, hypoxic, and hypercarbic (pCO2>115), who I knew would start desaturating quickly as soon as rapid-sequence induction drugs were given.

Dr. John Brown is the well-known (infamous?) Medical Director of the San Francisco EMS Agency — not a small task or for the weak of heart. He also practices at SF General Hospital and manages to keep level-headed in the midst of chaos. I’m constantly impressed by his clinical and political saaviness. You would never know how big of name he is when you meet him. Totally humble and understated, especially given all that he’s done for the city and our specialty.

Do you feel like you are routinely checking various websites to follow up on recent journal publications, reading blogs, catching up on the news? What’s new in Annals of EM or Academic EM? What’s on today’s CNN or EducationPR blogs? I’m a firm believer that technology should make things streamlined and easier, rather than creating more steps and hassles. I recently discovered online RSS readers on the web. If you don’t have one, you should get one.

In various ACEP News Tricks of the Trade columns, I have mentioned the importance of adequate lighting to visualize subtle injuries or pathologies. Traditional room overhead lighting is insufficient, especially if you are looking for that needle-in-a-haystack laceration in thick scalp hair or a tiny foreign body in a wound. If you are using a traditional Tungsten penlight, you need to invest in a LED light source. LED penlights are very small (can fit on a keychain), super-bright, long-lasting, and costs only $3-30.

It’s not every day that you get to meet and hang out with a fun, funny, humble, spirited, and super-smart person. I first got to know Dr. Ghazala Sharieff on the lecture circuit. She’s one of the major go-to speakers for anything related to pediatric EM. When I’m stuck in a dilemma about a pediatric patient, I think – WWGD? What would Ghazala do?