At our next Clinical Governance Day we’re fortunate to be joined by Dr Kate Sellors, Emergency Specialist at Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney. Kate has a particular interest in toxicology and has previously worked with Sydney HEMS so will be in an ideal position to teach toxicology which is relevant to the pre-hospital and retrieval environment.

Over the course of the day, we’ll be looking at organophosphate poisoning, managing ACE-inhibitor/Calcium channel blocker/beta-blocker overdose and dealing with envenomation.
Prior to the CGD, it would be worth reading a couple of the attached articles so we’re all up to speed with the management of envenomation and overdoses.

Envenomation
Have a read through Life in the Fast Lane’s entry on Brown Snake Envenomation. It would also be worth revising how to apply a pressure immobilisation bandage. Take a look at the ARC guidelines, or watch this short video demonstrating the technique.

Organophosphate poisoning
Take a look at Andrew Dawson’s presentation from SMACC, as well as his excellent WikiTox page on managing organophosphate poisoning

Calcium channel blocker,ACE-inhibitor and B-blocker overdose
Test your knowledge of CCB overdose and High Dose Euglycaemic Therapy (HIET) with this tricky case of verapamil overdose

See here for directions