The lucky Sydney HEMS attendees to this Clinical Governance Day got a taster of some brilliant lectures to be delivered at smaccGOLD on the 19th-21st of March 2014. Not wanting to give the game away, here are the key learning points from the ever-essential Morbidity & Mortality review and Airway Audit:
Airway Audit – Anthony Lewis
Great cases to learn from this month, things to remember:
- Always have a Plan A, B, C and D. Verbalise them to your team.
- Senior clinicians at referring hospitals can be invaluable
- Think about your doses of induction drugs: not too high, nor too low, aim for the Goldilocks dose.
Morbidity & Mortality – Karel Habig
Reviewed some difficult cases that people had in January, and the key learning points for the month include:
- Never forget your Lifepak. Anywhere.
- Cardiac arrest in trauma may be medical in nature: never assume it is purely traumatic
- In septic interhospital transfers, consider USS to guide fluid therapy before transporting patients
- If you’ve made a conscious decision to do or not to do something, document why! It may make your life much easier in the future.
- In patients with ventilation difficulties, it is probable a good idea to document the ventilator settings, this may impact the patients clinical course and your legal course!
- In alcoholics with a high lactacte, give thiamine – it will assist metabolism of lactate
- Finally, remember: if you will use advanced airway then talk to SRC. There is a reason you are using it, so there is another person to talk to if you need to use it!
Look out for our review of smaccGOLD soon!
