Tag Archives: critical care

Introduction to Retrieval Medicine

Several of the Sydney HEMS retrieval physicians describe some of the challenges of prehospital & retrieval medicine  

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CGD 9th April 2014 – Neurosimulation

Harnessing the experience of colleagues in the morbidity & mortality meeting, the manual dexterity of Karel Habig, the technological spectacularness of Skype to deliver a world expert to our meeting, the enthusiasm of two of our registrars, and the dynamism … Continue reading

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Ketamine for HEMS intubation in Canada

Ketamine was used by clinical staff from the The Shock Trauma Air Rescue Society (STARS) in Alberta to facilitate intubation in both the pre-hospital & in-hospital setting (with a neuromuscular blocker in only three quarters of cases). Changes in vital … Continue reading

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EM trainee RSI experience

A single centre observational study of rapid sequence intubation (RSI) was performed in a Scottish Emergency Department (ED) over four and a quarter years, followed by a postal survey of ED RSI operators. There were 329 RSIs during the study … Continue reading

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In-flight cooling after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest

Aeromedical retrieval specialists in Scotland developed a simple, cheap, effective in-flight cooling protocol using intravenous (IV) cold Hartmann’s solution and chemical cooling packs. Fluids cooled in a fridge (4°C) were transported in an insulated cool box; the patient was sedated, … Continue reading

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Pre-hospital cooling post arrest

An Australian randomised controlled trial assessed the effect of pre-hospital cooling (using 2 litres ice cold Hartmann’s) of post-cardiac arrest patients on functional status at hospital discharge. The intervention group were marginally cooler on arrival but did not have improved … Continue reading

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Give all sick patients oestrogen?

A thought provoking article in Critical Care Medicine outlines basic science, animal, and human studies that suggest oestrogen may have a protective effect in a wide range of critical illnesses from cardiac arrest to trauma to stroke. It urges clinical … Continue reading

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Etomidate versus ketamine for rapid sequence intubation

Finally a well designed blinded randomised controlled trial on this subject. 0.3 mg/kg etomidate was compared with 2mg/kg ketamine for RSI in 655 patients requiring emergency intubation in the pre-hospital, emergency department, or intensive care unit environments. No difference was … Continue reading

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