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!
Greater Sydney Area HEMS 