Shows
The Resus RoomAdvancing Cardiac Arrest Care, SPEAR; Roadside to ResusThis is a pretty special episode! If you're involved in cardiac arrest management or care of critically unwell patients then there's some ground breaking practice we'll be discussing with the two founders of the SPEAR course; Jon Barratt; Lt Col, British Army Emergency Medicine and PHEM Consultant, University Hospitals of the North Midlands Clinical Lead - Research and Clinical Innovation, Yorkshire Air Ambulance MERIT Consultant, West Midlands Ambulance Service Senior Lecturer, Academic Department of Military Emergency Medicine Paul Rees; Surgeon Commander Royal Navy Consultant, East Anglian Air Ambulance & Barts Heart Centre Lead for Resuscitation...
2025-07-221h 10The Resus RoomPain; Roadside to ResusIt’s something we all encounter in emergency and prehospital care, probably more than anything else, yet it’s a topic we’ve not given a full episode to… until now! Up to 70% of prehospital patients and 60–90% of ED attendees report pain, with half of all ED presentations having pain as the primary complaint. That’s millions of patients across Europe every year and we’re not always optimising our approach! In this episode, we’re diving deep into acute pain management; from understanding the complex biopsychosocial definition of pain, right through to tailored pharmacological and non-pharmaco...
2025-06-191h 06The Resus RoomGCS; Roadside to ResusWelcome back! In this episode, we’re diving deep into something we all think we know, the Glasgow Coma Scale. The GCS has been a fundamental part of assessing patients with altered consciousness for over 50 years. You’ll find it in trauma scores, neurology exams and practically every prehospital and ED handover. But here's the thing, is it as reliable and useful as we think? In this episode, we’ll explore the origins of the scale, what it was designed for and how it’s been used (and maybe misused...) since. We take a look at how r...
2025-05-1547 minThe Resus RoomOpioid Overdose; Roadside to ResusOpioid toxicity is a major and growing challenge across the UK and beyond, with nearly 10 deaths every day from opioid overdose and over a million adults using Class A drugs annually, the impact on emergency services is enormous. In this episode, we’re diving deep into the recognition and management of acute opioid toxicity in the emergency setting, including the reversal using naloxone. We’ll run through; The scale of the problem, including the rise of novel synthetic opioids like fentanyl and nitazenes. A breakdown of opioid pharmacology, including receptor types, potencies, and onset of a...
2025-04-1550 minThe Resus RoomElectrical Injuries; Roadside to ResusWelcome back to The Resus Room! This time, we’re diving into the fascinating and often overlooked world of electrical injuries. From household mishaps and workplace accidents to tasers and even lightning strikes, electrical injuries can range from minor shocks to life-threatening cardiac arrests. As always, we’ll be taking you through the full spectrum of care, from first contact at the roadside to critical management in resus. And let’s be honest, there’s a real lack of clear guidance out there when it comes to managing these cases. So, we’ve done the legwork, scoured the literature...
2025-03-181h 04The Resus RoomMaternal Arrest; Roadside to ResusCardiac Arrest in pregnancy affects around 1: 12-30,000 women in the developed world. As you’d expect the risk of death for mother and child is extremely high, but some causes of arrest are reversible and we can make a real impact with our care and treatment of these cases Now it goes without saying that these are some of the most emotive, complex and technically challenging Resuscitations that you could think to be involved in; by definition young female arrest with unborn babies involved. Thankfully this is not going to be a case th...
2025-02-121h 05The Resus RoomBronchiolitis; Roadside to ResusWelcome back to the first Roadside to Resus episode for 2025!! In this episode, we’re diving into a seasonally appropriate, and really paediatric common presentation for anyone involved in emergency care….Bronchiolitis. Now although it’s one of the most common respiratory illnesses affecting kids, bronchiolitis can easily cause confusion and concern around the severity of illness, whether to convey/admit/discharge, and also which treatments are indicated and which aren’t, including the perennially hot topic of bronchodilators. In this episode we’re going to and delve into all of those aspects & explore the...
2025-01-1552 minThe Resus RoomExtrication Consensus Statement FPHC; Roadside to ResusMotor vehicle collisions or road traffic collisions are a massive problem worldwide. Data from the World Health Organisation reports that there are around 1.2 million deaths every year and this is the leading cause of death internationally for children and young adults aged 5-29 years. In the UK there are around 1,500 deaths annually and also around 60,000 patients with significant and life changing injuries, which is 7 patients every hour!! So anything we can do to improve patient care following an MVC is definitely a worthwhile venture. We’ve looked at Extrication here on the podcast before but we’...
2024-11-1443 minThe Resus RoomAdrenal Crisis; Roadside to ResusIn this episode we’re going to be running through adrenal presentations; both Adrenal insufficiency and Adrenal Crisis. There are some parts of these that aren’t completely understood and a lack of a universal definition of Adrenal Crisis, but both insufficiency and a crisis are similar problems at different points on a spectrum and solid understanding of the endocrinology and physiology can really help to improve care in this area. There is huge potential for improving current morbidity and mortality. We’ll run through both primary and central adrenal insufficiency, describe how this leads to different effect...
2024-10-1554 minThe Resus RoomPulmonary Embolism; Roadside to ResusPE’s (or Pulmonary Emboli) are a key part of Emergency Care, something that many of us will consider as a differential diagnosis multiple times of a daily basis, in a similar way to acute coronary syndrome, so we need to be absolute experts on the topic! A PE normally occurs when a Deep Vein Thrombosis shoots off to the pulmonary arterial tree, occurring in 60-120 per 100,000 of the population per year The inhospital mortality is 14% and the 90 day mortality is around 20%. But this is proportional to its size, and risk stratifying PE’s once we’v...
2024-09-161h 04The Resus RoomAcute Kidney Injury; Roadside to ResusAcute Kidney Injury is common, complicated and holds significant morbidity and mortality. But...if we recognise it, we can make a real difference to our patients' outcomes. In this episode we run through the anatomy, physiology and aetiologies. We have a think about the multitude of definitions of AKI and then take each of the pre renal, renal and post renal categories and think about the ways we can optimise our care in each. We also have a think about who needs to be admitted and who can be safely managed in the...
2024-07-1659 minThe Resus RoomMajor Incident Triage; Roadside to ResusSo this month we’re looking at major incidents and specifically the triage process that is now coming into play in the UK and further afield that you need to know about! We normally stick pretty strongly to clinical topics; they’re pretty easy to focus on because you can imagine how extra knowledge in a certain clinical area could make a difference to presentations that we see pretty commonly. And being brutally honest, making the effort to prepare and rehearse what we might do, on the off chance that we ever come across a major incident, can...
2024-06-1857 minThe Resus RoomCauda Equina Syndrome; Roadside to ResusLower back pain is a really common cause for patients to present to primary care, urgent care and emergency care. Thankfully many of these cases are self limiting, but somewhere in the region of 1:300 patients with back pain in the ED will have Cauda Equina Syndrome. Cauda Equina Syndrome is something that is challenging for all clinicians because many patients with simple lower back pain may have many similar symptoms, but if we miss it, or if there is a delay to surgery that can lead to potentially avoidable long-term disability for our patients and o...
2024-04-1539 minThe Resus RoomEnd Tidal CO2; Roadside to ResusEnd Tidal CO2, or ETCO2 for short, is something that’s talked about pretty often in Emergency and Critical Care and that’s because it’s used a lot in the assessment and treatment of patients! It’s got a big part to play in airway management, resuscitation, sedation and is also increasingly used in other situations. Some of these applications have some pretty strong evidence to back them up but others are definitely worth a deeper thought, because without a sound understanding of ETCO2 we can fall foul of some traps… ETCO2 is a non-invasi...
2024-03-1453 minThe Resus RoomRefractory VF; Roadside to ResusAs we all know, rapid and effective resuscitation makes a huge difference to the chance of survival from a cardiac arrest. If you’re going to pick a rhythm to have as the patient or as the Resuscitationist, then it’s going to be a shockable rhythm, so VF or pulseless VT as they hold the greatest chance of survival. You'll find an initial shockable rhythm in around 20% of cases & defibrillation alone may lead to a ROSC. So it’s absolutely imperative to get the immediate management spot on! Whilst current practice is good, there are so...
2024-02-1459 minThe Resus RoomPaediatric Fever; Roadside to ResusFever is an incredibly effective mechanism to fight off pathogens. Clearly, whilst many illnesses that cause a fever don’t require anything more than the body’s natural response, there are some patients in which a fever might represent a serious illness. Differentiating those serious illnesses from self-limiting presentations can be tricky at times, but can also be anxiety provoking for clinicians and parents, or carers of that child. In children the limited communication can make the diagnostic challenge of the origin of the fever a real challenge, along with the added difficult of gaining some...
2024-01-1558 minThe Resus RoomCaring in a Broken System; Roadside to ResusWe know it's the festive season but we thought we’d try and cover an issue from which there appears to be no escape and is a particular problem at this time of year, queuing! Whether we like it or not, this has become a factor for all of us working in emergency care, whether its delays getting your patient into the department, queueing down the corridor into ED, a prolonged stay in ED for an appropriate ward, or even in a physical queue to get out of the ED and onto an appropriate bed! We...
2023-12-1455 minThe Resus RoomBlood gases; Roadside to ResusBlood gases are really commonly used in ED, Critical Care, Respiratory Medicine and Prehospitally. In fact, you’d do well to walk 10 meters in an ED without being given one to sign off! But it’s for good reason, because they give you additional information about what’s going on from a respiratory and metabolic perspective in the patient. And it’s probably worth mentioning at this point, this episode is going to be pretty ‘science-heavy’, there should be something in here for everyone; from the clinician that's been looking at these things for the last 30 years, to those that...
2023-11-1555 minThe Resus RoomSpontaneous Pneumothorax; Roadside to ResusIn this episode we’re going to cover the ‘atraumatic’ or ‘spontaneous’ pneumothoraces and focus on some new key guidelines from the British Thoracic Society which came out in July this year and also look at the relevant evidence on the topic. There are pretty significant changes in the BTS guidance, it’s no longer about finding a pneumothorax, working out if it’s primary or secondary and then acting dependant on the size. It's now moved more towards looking at how the patient is clinically, taking into account the symptomatology, any big risk characteristics, whether it’s primary or sec...
2023-10-1641 minThe Resus RoomEnd of Life Care; Roadside to ResusDelivering excellent End of Life Care in the Emergency Care is a real challenge but also a huge privilege and has formed some of the most rewarding parts of our careers to date. We've been really keen to End of Life Care as a topic for a while now. Many, if not all of you, will have been out to these patients or received them in your ED. They aren’t simple cases to manage, with lots of issues around scope of practice, lack of alternative care pathways, confusion surrounding legal documentation and many studies hav...
2023-09-191h 18The Resus RoomACPIC 2023; conference episodeWelcome back to the podcast, coming to you all the way from Australia! Rob and James were fortunate enough to be invited to deliver the keynote and an airway masterclass at this year's Australian College of Paramedicine International Conference. At what was an amazing meeting, they were lucky enough to be able to catch up with some of the fantastic speakers to hear the key parts of their talks. In this episode you'll hear from; Richard Armour, Mobile Intensive Care Ambulance Paramedic at Ambulance Victoria and PhD Candidate at Monash University; Identifying patients r...
2023-09-1518 minThe Resus RoomTrauma Primary Survey; Roadside to ResusSo in this episode we’re going to run though the primary survey in trauma. This clinical assessment helps us identify and treat life threatening injuries and to rapidly intervene and correct them, so getting it right really matter1. How this is done is hugely dependant upon the setting (either pre or in-hospital) as it is affected by the access to the patient, the number of people there to contribute to care and the challenges that the scene or hospital environment might hold. We run through a model of primary survey that looks to gain as...
2023-07-1438 minThe Resus RoomTraumatic Pneumothorax; Roadside to ResusThis is the first of two episodes looking at pneumothoraces. In this episode we're going to start out by taking a look at traumatic pneumothoraces. Traumatic pneumothoraces are present in about a fifth of multiple trauma patients, so it's not infrequent to come across them and they can obviously occur in those with isolated chest injury too. Thoracic trauma occurs in around two thirds of multi-trauma cases and is classified as the primary cause of death in a quarter of trauma patients. The clinical assessment carries with it a fair amount of dogma, including looking...
2023-06-1448 minThe Resus RoomHead Injury Updates; Roadside to ResusThe last time we took a good look at head injuries was back in 2018 in our Roadside to Resus episodes and for all of the foundational stuff on incidence, assessment, management and loads more make sure you go and check that episode out. But this episode is one of our new UPDATES episodes, because we’re pretty old now… and whilst we’ve been having a go at this for a while evidence and guidelines will have progressed, which clearly have implications on how we manage certain cases and that’s where these come in! So they’ll focus mai...
2023-05-1833 minThe Resus RoomCan't Intubate Can't Oxygenate; Roadside to ResusBeing in a situation of being unable to intubate and unable to oxygenate is an absolute time critical emergency. Focus needs to be paid to the techniques and strategy to deal with this situation. But we also need to consider steps to ensure it occurs at a low frequency and our decision making and recognition of the situation happens quickly and simply. In the episode we’re going to be talking about a number of other aspects that are relevant for all emergency providers, irrespective of whether you intubate or not, along with how those asp...
2023-04-1746 minThe Resus RoomNeck of Femur Fractures; Roadside to ResusSo NOF's aren't the most glamorous of topics to cover on a podcast, but the difference we can make to patients but refining our care is huge. Neck of femur fractures have a high and increasing incidence. They occur predominantly in frail patients who have the greatest risk of complications, both from the injury and medical interventions. In this episode we'll be running through their presentation, discuss both the clinical and radiological diagnostics. We'll also be looking in depth about both pharmacological and non-pharmacological methods of pain relief and have a think about where fascia-iliaca co...
2023-03-161h 04The Resus RoomCrush; Roadside to ResusSo in this episode we’re going to be covering crush injury. When you think about it, visions of falling rocks, industrial accidents and high speed RTCs may come to mind, but actually a crush injury can be sustained in a huge variety of ways without such vivid circumstances. Definitions according to the Faculty of Prehospital Care are that; ‘A crush injury is a direct injury resulting from crush. Crush syndrome is the systemic manifestation of muscle cell damage resulting from pressure or crushing’ So in the episode we’re going t...
2023-02-2056 minThe Resus RoomCOPD; Roadside to ResusWelcome back to our first Roadside to Resus episode for 2023! We're back with the huge topic that is COPD. In this episode we're going to delve into the depths of the topic, helping us to deliver the best possible care for this frequently encountered presentation. Along with the standard coverage from incidence, to pathophysiology, to presentation and treatment, we'll also be covering those topics that you've specifically asked for; The mechanism behind hypercapnoeic respiratory failure, in those patients given to much oxygen Is there a role for end tidal CO2 interpretation in those spontaneously...
2023-01-161h 07The Resus RoomPacing; Roadside to ResusSo following on from our Bradycardia episode, we're going to look in detail at cardiac pacing. Setting up emergency pacing in those compromised bradycardia patients can make a significant difference to patient outcomes, and doing so in a timely and slick fashion can be a real challenge. In this episode we'll be discussing all forms of pacing, strategies for ensuring the greatest likelihood of success and the details of setup and analgesia/sedation strategies for external pacing. Once again we'd love to hear any comments or questions either via the website or social...
2022-12-1644 minThe Resus RoomAcute Behavioural Disturbance; Roadside to ResusAcute Behavioural Disturbance (ABD), one of the most challenging, dangerous and serious presentations that we will encounter in emergency management of patients. There is no widely accepted definition of ABD. Really it’s an umbrella term for a patient presenting with a triad of features, secondary to a specific underlying cause, made up of; Delirium Severe agitation and aggressive behaviour Autonomic dysfunction In this episode we're going to run through ABD, it's causes, the approach and investigation. Excellent management of these cases relies upon high quality team working, planning, communications and strategies to keep all in...
2022-11-181h 01The Resus RoomBradycardia; Roadside to ResusWe’ve covered tachycardias, both narrow and broad before, but we need to complete the set. So this time we’ll be looking at the slower end of the spectrum, with bradycardias. Bradycardias can be a physiological state in athletes, but they can also be of significant concern. They occur due to a multitude of reasons, some cardiac and some not and they can require no treatment at all right up to those peri-arrest patients where you’ll be cracking open your critical care drugs and starting to pace them externally before getting them to definit...
2022-10-1751 minThe Resus RoomExtrication; Roadside to ResusDespite all the improvements that we have seen in trauma care over the past 20 or more years RTCs are still, sadly, a really common cause of both death and disability, with the number of deaths annually in the UK sitting somewhere between 1500-1900 per annum. Survivors, who have serious injuries and are left with ongoing disabilities, total 22,000 people per year. So anything we can do to improve care to these patients is definitely worth looking at and learning about! Extrication is the process of injured (or potentially injured) patients being removed from vehicles...
2022-09-151h 07The Resus RoomLactate; Roadside to ResusSo when people talk about patients having a high lactate we think about them being sick, it can at times be easy to slip into thinking that this equals sepsis or maybe ischaemia. And whilst the presence of a high lactate in the context of infection and ischaemia is important to note, there is a lot more to interpreting a raised lactate than may first be apparent... So in this episode we’re going to delve down into lactate, have a think about what it is, what normal and raised levels are, consider the mechanisms behind it’s fo...
2022-07-1825 minThe Resus RoomIntraosseous Access; Roadside to ResusSo, as we all know, there are loads of presentations that we see in Emergency Medicine that require us to gain rapid access to the circulation. Either to administer medicines around the body or to get fluids into the circulation. Now there’s a number of different ways we can get them into the circulatory system for them then to get to their sites of action, each of which comes with its pros and cons. There’s buccal, inhaled, intramuscular, sublingual, intranasal etc etc…. But, in the vast majority of cases we gain this access to the...
2022-06-211h 03The Resus RoomLeadership and Followership; Roadside to ResusWe talk a lot about the different skills involved in the management of the critically unwell patient; CPR, airway management, defibrillation, chest drains, RSI etc, etc…..but there is another aspect which is arguably as important and that is the non-technical skills involved in resuscitation. In this podcast we discuss non-technical skills, followership, leadership and different models of working. What’s really important to remember in this episode is that at the centre of leadership and follwership is a patient, or patients, that we’re trying to deliver the best care and outcomes for and that effective leadersh...
2022-05-1653 minThe Resus RoomAcute Aortic Syndromes; Roadside to ResusWe have been wanting to do an episode on aortic dissections for quite a while now but you will see that what we’ve actually gone and done is created an episode on acute aortic syndromes…so we’ve done a great job of staying on point straight from the off! In fairness, we’ve done this because it turns out that there are actually a few different potentially life threatening acute aortic conditions which we need to know about and getting them all into one episode seemed achievable, so let’s see how we get on with that...
2022-04-1957 minThe Resus RoomDebrief - Roadside to ResusDebrief is an extremely important topic both in the prehospital and in-hospital environment. It offers the opportunity to clarify, reflect and improve on future practice. But partaking in and running a debrief can be challenging. So in this episode we'll be exploring debrief in a lot more detail. We'll be covering both hot and cold debriefs, frameworks for debriefing and tips on what works well, as well as what sometimes doesn't. To celebrate International Women's Day 2022 we have handed over the mics to three incredible colleague; Gemma Richmond has worked for the Yorkshire...
2022-03-0835 min
The Resus RoomDebrief; Roadside to ResusDebrief is an extremely important topic both in the prehospital and in-hospital environment. It offers the opportunity to clarify, reflect and improve on future practice. But partaking in and running a debrief can be challenging. So in this episode we'll be exploring debrief in a lot more detail. We'll be covering both hot and cold debriefs, frameworks for debriefing and tips on what works well, as well as what sometimes doesn't. To celebrate International Women's Day 2022 we have handed over the mics to three incredible colleague; Gemma Richmond has worked for the Yorkshire...
2022-03-0835 minThe Resus RoomBroad Complex Tachycardia; Roadside to ResusSo in our last Roadside to Resus episode we covered narrow complex tachycardias. In that we delved pretty deep into the normal cardiac conductance along with the clinical assessment and their management. This episode is going to build on some of that…so if you haven’t already given it a listen, we’d recommend you pause here, take a listen….and then come back on board!! But for those of you that have already listened, here we go with the bigger brother and even more exciting broad complex tachycardia episode!! Again we’ll be covering everything from the underlying...
2022-02-1545 minThe Resus RoomNarrow Complex Tachycardia; Roadside to ResusSo in this episode we run through narrow complex tachycardias, not I hear you say a perfect visual topic for an audio platform like a podcast, but hold your horses… No matter what your level, or your depth of understanding of narrow complex tachycardias, we really hope this will offer some extra knowledge and contemplation for both those of you, like us, that have been treating patient with NCT for decades, right through to those of you that are completely new to the topic. We run through all the normal stuff like definitions, clinical context an...
2022-01-171h 04The Resus RoomVentilation; Roadside to ResusCritically unwell patients often present with inadequate oxygenation and ventilation, in this episode we’re going to explore some of the physiology of critical illness, look at how we can improve oxygenation and ventilation, take a look mechanical ventilation and have a think about how we can deliver this to a really high level. We’ll be covering the following; Type 1 & 2 respiratory failure Breathing assessment Optimising patients own ventilation Mechanical ventilation Modes of ventilation Setting up a ventilator; tidal volume, RR, FiO2, I:E ratios, dead space End tidal CO2 Optimising oxygenation & ventilation Hand ventilation Ventilation in c...
2021-12-1558 minThe Resus RoomBreaking Bad News; Roadside to ResusBeing involved in Emergency Care, by it’s very nature, sadly means that we will have to break bad news to patients and families both in the prehospital & in-hospital setting. Breaking bad news well has benefits to both the recipient of that news and also to the provider delivering it. Teaching and education on the topic can be difficult to access and not always prioritised. In this episode we run through some of the evidence around breaking bad news, techniques and structures to follow and talk about the practicalities of adopting these, along with our ow...
2021-11-1557 minThe Resus RoomIntubation; The DiscussionSo following on from the Roadside to Resus episode on intubation there were a lot of questions from listeners that we didn't have the opportunity to answer. These included some clinical aspects and also some really tricky issues around competency, governance and importantly who should and shouldn't be intubating. We've separated this out from the main episode as a lot of the conversations are heavily opinion based and only our view on the topic. This is our first episode of this style and we'd love to hear any comments or feedback and also know if th...
2021-10-2523 minThe Resus RoomIntubation; Roadside to ResusIntubation is a key part of advanced airway management. Although some of you out there may not intubate, we’ll be covering aspects where the identification of the need for intubation and how contributing as a team to the process can make a real difference to patient outcomes. Intubation is subject of a considerable amount of evidence and debate. Increasing use of supraglottic airways both in theatre and in cardiac arrest creates a situation in which there are limited opportunities to train and learn the skill. This brings into question who should these limited opportunities to...
2021-10-141h 09The Resus RoomAcute Coronary Syndrome; Roadside to ResusSo this time we're going to be looking at the HUGE topic of acute coronary syndrome (ACS)! ACS ranges from patients who appear well at the time of their presentation, to those that have arrhythmias, haemodynamic instability, to those that are in cardiac arrest! There are around three quarters of a million ED chest pain attendances per year for acute chest pain and it accounts for around 25% of ED medical admissions!! Some of the treatments we’ll discuss for patients with ACS can have a huge affect on morbidity and mortality and we can make a...
2021-09-151h 08The Resus RoomPre Alert; Roadside to ResusSo welcome back to another Roadside to Resus episode! Pre alerts are a key part of the interface between pre hospital and in hospital care of the critically unwell patient, when made and received in an effective manner they can really benefit the patient and the system. But too often we hear of friction associated with pre alerts and recent discussions on social media has really highlighted this. In this episode we explore the pre alert, the guidance that exists already on the topic, the challenges of both making and receiving those pre alerts and...
2021-07-191h 03The Resus RoomSubarachnoid Haemorrhage; Roadside to ResusSo this time we're going to be talking about subarachnoid haemorrhage. So this is going to be a short and punchy look at a really important and interesting topic in subarachnoid haemorrhage. We run through the approach to headache and then focus on the specific features and findings that we should be looking for with regards subarachnoid haemorrhage. We then consider who we should be investigating further, what value a CT head brings and the sticky subject of who should be going on to have a lumbar puncture. Finally we consider the the management once...
2021-06-1652 minThe Resus RoomResuscitation Guidelines 2021; Roadside to ResusSo the Resuscitation Council UK have today published new guidelines on resuscitation based on the European Resuscitation Council 2021 Guidelines and recommendations from the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation. We were lucky enough to catch up with two key members of both ERC and RCUK, Gavin Perkins and Jasmeet Soar, gaining their valuable insights into the new guidelines. As well as this Simon, Rob and James pick out some other key points from the guidelines and discuss how these may translate into systems and practice. Once again we’d love to hear any thoughts or...
2021-05-0544 minThe Resus RoomNewborn Life Support; Roadside to ResusSo last month we considered Maternal Emergencies and the approach and interventions we can make in order to minimise complications during pregnancy and during childbirth. As promised this month we're looking at the next step along the process and focussing on Newborn Life Support. Dealing with newborns has the potential to be really stressful but hopefully by concentrating on the fundamentals and guidelines we'll all be able to approach the situation with greater confidence. Let us know any thought and comments you have on the podcast. Enjoy! Simon, Rob & James
2021-04-151h 38The Resus RoomDiabetic Ketoacidosis; Roadside to ResusWelcome back to the podcast and our next Roadside to Resus episode, this time we’re taking a look at Diabetic Ketoacidosis, DKA. In this episode we’ll be getting our heads around the pathophysiology that underpins DKA, consider the clinical picture and severity of patients that present and look at both the in-hospital and pre-hospital management of these patients including topics such at fluid choice, insulin boluses and nasal ETCO2 for diagnosis of DKA. Let us know any thought and comments you have. Enjoy! Simon, Rob & James
2021-02-1558 minThe Resus RoomSupraglottic Airways; Roadside to ResusSo in this episode we’re going to have a deeper think about advanced airway management and specifically supraglottic use in the prehospital and ED environment. Many prehospital service have seen the removal of intubation from their scope of practice, and that’s understandably been received with mixed thoughts. But this isn’t the end of ‘expert advanced airway care for all; in fact far, far from it… we’ve all heard people talking about ‘whacking in an i-gel’, but really utilising a supraglottic device to its maximal potential can make a huge difference to our critically un...
2021-01-181h 07The Resus RoomAnaphylaxis; Roadside to ResusWelcome back to the podcast! In this episode of Roadside to Resus we're going to take a look Anaphylaxis, which has been highlighted on a national level of concern as NICE state ‘many people do not receive optimal management following their acute anaphylactic reaction’. Much of the problem lies within a lack of understanding of what actually constitutes an anaphylactic reaction and the knock on effect this has to the treatment provided. In this episode we'll explore the definition of anaphylaxis and the significant differences that can be seen in the presentation. We have...
2020-11-161h 00The Resus RoomPoisoning; Roadside to ResusSo in our Toxidrome Roadside to Resus episode we covered the initial management of a poisoned patient, some of the constellation of features to look out for and the specific management. But what about specific agents and circumstances that require particular knowledge and management both in the prehospital environment and in ED? Well in this episode we’ll cover these by running through; Paracetamol poisoning and treatment Calcium channel blocker overdose Beta blocker overdose High dose insulin euglycaemic therapy Activated charcoal Intralipid therapy Cardiac arrest due to toxicology We'd love to hear any comments or fe...
2020-10-151h 00The Resus RoomToxidromes; Roadside to ResusDrug ingestion both accidental and intentional accounts for a significant proportion of attendances at UK Emergency Departments and 999 calls. In 2016 there were >2,500 registered deaths in England and Wales related to drug misuse, which had increased by nearly 60% in a decade. So without a doubt we are all going to come across critically unwell patients with drug ingestions. But inappropriate drug use is not confined to illicit substances, with many prescription drugs being misused to ill effect and also overdosed in an attempt to end patients lives. In this podcast we’re going to run...
2020-09-1558 minThe Resus RoomUltrasound in Cardiac Arrest; Roadside to ResusThe more you delve into cardiac arrest, the more it seems that delivering the essentials well is the key to great outcomes; timely recognition, high quality chest compressions, with early and appropriate defibrillation. But is ultrasound in cardiac arrest a layer that we should all be adding in as a standard. It holds the potential to not only prognose outcomes from cardiac arrest, both medical and traumatic, but also to add a level of diagnosis of potentially reversible causes. In this podcast we chat through the evidence surrounding ultrasound in cardiac arrest and consider the...
2020-07-2052 minThe Resus RoomTXA in GI Bleeds, HALT-IT; Roadside to ResusTranexamic Acid (TXA) has gained a significant amount of attention over the last few years as multiple studies have shown it's utility in decreasing haemorrhage and associated mortality. It has become part of major trauma guidelines, post part haemorrhage protocols and many have adopted it to the management of traumatic brain injury. The findings have been very similar across a spectrum of haemorrhage disease processes and from this further interest in expanding TXA's application to pretty much anything that bleeds. Time from onset of the bleeding has been shown to be important, with it's effect decreasing from time of...
2020-06-1944 minThe Resus RoomTransfer; Roadside to ResusTransfers of patients happen all the time. It's easy to think about transfers as only those that involve an ambulance and moving patients from one hospital to the next, but in reality it's far more extensive than that. We all move patients all the time, whether that be the unwell patient in the upstairs of their house to the ambulance, the patient in the Emergency Department to the CT scanner or another ward, or the more traditional interhosptal transfer. Transfers of patients are inherently high risk times for the patient and having some background knowledge on transfers...
2020-05-251h 05The Resus RoomPelvic Injury; Roadside to ResusFractures of the pelvis are found reasonably often in major trauma, but they’re a really challenging presentation. They are difficult to assess and accurately diagnose in the prehospital setting, mortality rates are high, particularly in patients with haemodynamic instability and there are often associated injuries. Associated mortality from patients with pelvic fractures who reach hospital is reported to be up to 19%, with mortality rates as high as 37% reported in the presence of haemodynamic instability. In this episode we'll run through pelvic injuries, all the way from anatomy and mechanisms of injury, to assessment and management. A...
2020-04-2057 minThe Resus RoomRespiratory Strategies in COVID-19So COVID-19 has produced a multitude of challenges to healthcare providers, the response to these challenges has been phenomenal. One uncertainty is the strategy we should employ for hypoxic respiratory failure and several high quality guidelines have presented conflicting advice for the severely hypoxic patient. The Warwick Clinical Trials Unit has already begun recruiting patients to their RECOVERY-RS trial, which is open for hospitals in the UK to sign up for. This looks at 3 different strategies of respiratory support for patients admitted with suspected or known COVID-19 and hypoxia; namely CPAP, High-flow nasal oxygen and s...
2020-04-1017 minThe Resus RoomCutting Edge PHEM; Roadside to ResusExcellent practice is led by following the high quality evidence based medicine, and there have been a lot of great papers published in the last 12 months! We were kindly invited to the Faculty of Pre Hospital Care Annual Scientific Conference to give a talk on the top 10 papers over the last year. Sadly, but completely understandably, the conference had to be cancelled due to COVID-19. In this podcast we cover the talk which is based on 2 cases that are common to PHEM;a major trauma and a cardiac arrest, and discuss how we can optimise...
2020-03-1751 minThe Resus RoomStabbing; Roadside to ResusFigures for the year ending September 2019 showed a 7% rise in offences involving knives or sharp instruments recorded by the police (to 44,771 offences). This is 46% higher than when comparable recording began (year ending March 2011) and the highest on record. The news is sadly littered with cases of knife crime and terror and whilst we may have thought of stabbings as confined to small pockets of the country, sadly it now seems that we all have or all will be dealing with such cases. The variability in injury and severity is vast from stabbings, however in extremis t...
2020-02-1459 minThe Resus RoomSeizures; Roadside to ResusSeizures are defined as a “paroxysmal electrical discharge of the neurones in the brain resulting in a change of function or behaviour”. All of us involved in Emergency Care will encounter patients with seizures which can occur for a number of reasons, with Epilepsy affecting 1 in 100 people in the UK. Being able to identify the cause, terminate ongoing seizures and provide ongoing investigation and care is complicated and of paramount importance, as some of these episodes carry with them a high morbidity and mortality rate. In this episode of Roadside to Resus we run through the...
2020-01-151h 04The Resus RoomPre-Hospital Critical Care; London Trauma Conference 2019REBOA, ECMO, Thoracotomy? Where should we be focussing our attention in the world of Pre-hospital care? We were lucky enough to be invited to the London Trauma Conference on the Prehospital Day supported by the Norwegian Air Ambulance Foundation. The day focussed on the areas we can make a real impact to the outcomes of our pre-hospital critical care patients. We grabbed a few minutes time of the following speakers to hear their thoughts; Introosseous Access; Jerry Nolan Pre-hospital Blood products; Jostein Hagemo Communication under pressure; Dr Stephen Hearn P...
2019-12-1217 minThe Resus RoomCan TXA save lives in head injuries, CRASH-3; Roadside to ResusSo an incredibly important paper, CRASH-3 has just been published in the Lancet, which looks at the treatment of head injuries with Tranexamic Acid (TXA). TXA has been shown to save lives in trauma patients at the risk of major haemorrhage, with the notable exclusion of those with head injuries, CRASH-2. TXA has been shown to save lives in those with post parts haemorrhage, WOMAN trial. Time to treatment with TXA has been shown to be hugely influential in it's ability to decrease blood loss and save lives. So has TXA now been shown to save lives...
2019-10-1539 minThe Resus RoomShock in Trauma; Roadside to ResusSo as promised, and following on from our previous shock episode, this time we've covered the topic of shock in Trauma. It's a massive topic and one that we all, yet again, can make a huge difference for our patients' outcomes. There is some crossover as you'd expect from the concepts and assessment that we covered in our Shock episode, so we'd recommend taking a listen to that one first. Make sure you have a comfy seat and plenty of refreshments to keep you going for this one as we cover the following; Definition Aetiology Hypovolaemic s...
2019-09-161h 16The Resus RoomStroke Management; Roadside to ResusFollowing on from our previous Roadside to Resus episode on Stroke, in this episode we look at the rapidly evolving area of stroke management. In the last 2 decades stroke management has progressed beyond recognition and keeping up with the evidence and available therapies is a significant challenge. We cover the following treatments, looking at the risks and benefits of each, with the goal of being able to offer our patients the best possible outcomes; Aspirin Thrombolysis; both prehospitally and in hospital Thrombectomy Decompressive Hemicraniectomy Normoxia Euglycaemia Acute blood pressure management As always we’d love to...
2019-08-1555 minThe Resus RoomStroke; Roadside to ResusStroke is a common presentation to all Emergency Health care providers, with around 150,000 strokes occurring in the UK each year! Our impact and treatment can be hugely significant and in this podcast we’re going to conver the topic in some depth, and importantly cover some of the new Guidance published by NICE in their ‘Stroke and transient ischaemic attack in the over 16’s diagnosis and initial management’ document that was published in May of this year. We'll be running through Definition Pathophysiology Territories Risk factors Assessment; both prehospitally and in hospital Stroke mimics Investigations As alway...
2019-07-1545 minThe Resus RoomHeat Illness; Roadside to ResusIf you live in the UK you may be fooled in to thinking that Heat Illness isn't really something we need to worry about...but you'd be wrong! Each year there are 800 deaths due to Heat Illness and figures in more temperate climates are significantly more. In this podcast we tackle the topic of Heat Illness, all the way through Heat Cramps, Heat Syncope, Heat Exhaustion and to Heat Stroke. We'll cover the following; Definition, clinical spectrum and categories Scale of the problem Thermoregulatory physiology Impact of hyperthermia Clinical findings Those at greatest risk...
2019-06-1743 minThe Resus RoomDrowning; Roadside to ResusDrowning is a huge worldwide problem, and here in the UK there are around 350 accidental deaths from drowning each year. From the patient who is potentially well enough for discharge on scene, all the way through to the resuscitation and prognostication of a cardiac arrest due to drowning, the topic carries a number of unique questions and challenges. In this podcast we run through; The scale of the problem Modes of drowning Prognostic factors Extrication Advanced Life Support in Drowning Termination of resuscitation Medical management As always we’d love to hear any th...
2019-05-1550 minThe Resus RoomGCS 8, intubate?'Patients with GCS scores of 8 or less require prompt intubation', that's what ATLS tells us. The mantra of GCS 8, intubate has pervaded teaching for those involved in the management of patients with a reduced GCS (Glasgow Coma Scale). But on reflection it would seem slightly odd that the gain or loss of a single point on the Glasgow Coma Scale could simply account for a change in the decision as to whether a patient would benefit from intubation and ventilation. So should the patient with a GCS of 9 be best managed without a definitive airway, but when th...
2019-04-1518 minThe Resus RoomAdvanced Airway Management UpdatesWe were lucky enough to be back at the fantastic TraumaCare Conference last week. There were a whole host of fantastic talks on offer and the Emergency Medicine stream, arranged by our very own Rob Fenwick, included a pro/con debate on whether Emergency Medicine should be managing the trauma airway. During that debate a number of important papers were raised on the evolution and improvement in advanced airway management. In this podcast we'll run through some of the most important points from that talk. Make sure you take a look at the papers yourself a...
2019-03-1820 minThe Resus RoomHypothermia; Roadside to ResusHypothermia is a common problem for both pre and in-hospital clinicians. Understanding the underpinning physiology helps us deliver first class care to our patients, decreasing associated morbidity and mortality. There is some extremely difficult decision making to be done in severe cases of hypothermia and the podcast gives us an opportunity to explore them further. We'll cover the subject in depth with particular reference to the following categories of hypothermia; treatment, modifications in cardiac arrest and prognostication. Enjoy! Simon, Rob & James References ERC 2015; Cariac arrest in specialist cir...
2019-02-1459 minThe Resus RoomShock; Roadside to ResusIf you're involved in the care of critically unwell patients then you will frequently encounter patients who are shocked. The European Society of Intensive Care Medicine defines shock as; 'Life-threatening, generalized form of acute circulatory failure associated with inadequate oxygen utilization by the cells. It is a state in which the circulation is unable to deliver sufficient oxygen to meet the demands of the tissues, resulting in cellular dysfunction.’ The assessment for shock needs to be part of the routine workup of every potentially unwell patient. Shock carries with it a high mortality rate, a ran...
2019-01-1458 minThe Resus RoomChristmas Special '18Festive greetings to all! We hope you've had a fantastic 2018 and have some time off over Xmas and New Year to celebrate with friends and family. We thought we'd bring you some of the most influential papers that we've read over the last 12 months, that haven't necessarily fitted in that closely with some of the topics we've covered...we hope you enjoy! Thanks for all of your support with the podcast throughout 2018 and we wish you a very happy 2019. Simon, Rob & James References Pediatric golf cart trauma: Not par fo...
2018-12-2034 minThe Resus RoomCardiac Arrest Masterclass; London Trauma Conference 2018Cardiac arrest management is core business of a resuscitationist and practice is constantly evolving in the pursuit of improving patient outcomes. We were lucky enough to be invited to the London Trauma Conference's Cardiac Arrest Masterclass stream, where Matt Thomas put on a superb array of talks around all things cardiac arrest. We managed to borrow a bit of time from some of the speakers and caught up with some of the topics covered including; airway management, ECGs pre/post arrest, POCUS, CRM and breaking bad news. We found the day hugely useful and we ho...
2018-12-1723 minThe Resus RoomChemical Burns, Maternal arrest, Amputation and Mental Toughness; BASICSFPHC18 Day 2We were delighted to be back to cover the joint Faculty of Prehospital Care and BASICS conference, day 2, held at the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. Again we were absolutely spoilt for choice when it came to content for the podcasts but we managed to catch up with: • Dr Anne Weaver – a consultant in Emergency Medicine and Prehospital Care working for the Royal London Hospital and London HEMS. She talked to us about chemical burns and a novel treatment for managing these injuries. • Dr Virginia Beckett – an Obstetrics and Gynaecology consultant who is a member of the mM...
2018-11-2329 minThe Resus RoomSick Paeds, Extrication and Drowning; BASICSFPHC18 Day 1We were delighted to be invited to cover the joint Faculty of Prehospital Care and BASICS conference held at the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. This two-day prehospital extravaganza covered a broad range of topics and the content was delivered by some excellent speakers. As such, we were absolutely spoilt for choice when it came to content for the podcasts but we managed to catch up with: Dr Abi Hoyle – a paediatric emergency medicine consultant with a background in military and retrieval services. She gave us some key tips when dealing with paediatric patients. Ian Du...
2018-11-2033 minThe Resus RoomCricoid Pressure; Roadside to ResusWe've heard a lot about advanced airway management recently, with some really significant publications over the last few months and in the last few weeks in JAMA we've had another! Cricoid pressure during emergency anaesthesia and for those at high risk of aspiration has been common place for more than half a century. But it's a topic that has caused quite some debate. On one hand it has the potential to reduce aspiration, a very real and potentially very serious complication of RSI. But on the other it has the potential to hinder the view on laryngoscopy...
2018-11-0832 minThe Resus RoomBurns; Roadside to ResusWith bonfire night approaching we thought it would be a good time to have a think about burns. However burns are a significant issue at all times of year with around 130,000 presentations to UK EDs annually, 10,000 cases are admitted to hospital, 500 of these have severe burns and 200 of these will die. But most importantly intervention that we make can make a big difference to both morbidity and mortality, really affecting outcomes. Throughout this episode we'll be covering the essential first responder management, all the way through to the critical care that maybe required for the s...
2018-10-151h 05The Resus RoomIntubation or supraglottic airway in cardiac arrest; AIRWAYS-2So we're back from our summer hiatus with a real treat. The long awaited AIRWAYS-2 paper has just been released and we've been lucky enough to speak with the lead author, Professor Jonathan Benger, about the paper and discuss what the findings mean for cardiac arrest management. AIRWAYS-2 looks at the initial advanced airway management strategy for paramedics attending out of hospital cardiac arrests, essentially whether or not the aim should be to place a supraglottic airway device or an endotracheal tube when advancing from simple airway techniques. The study was a huge undertaking with many speculating...
2018-08-2855 minThe Resus RoomAdrenaline in Cardiac Arrest; PARAMEDIC2Drugs in cardiac arrest are controversial. Prehospital research is notoriously difficult to perform. PARAMEDIC2 has just published in the New England Journal of Medicine and is a multi centre randomised placebo controlled trial looking at adrenaline (or epinephrine depending on which side of the pond you reside) in out of hospital cardiac arrest, no mean undertaking and a landmark paper. The paper has gained a huge amount of traction online with multiple blogs discussing the primary outcome which showed a higher survival rate in those receiving adrenaline when compared to placebo. This has been accompanied with a...
2018-07-2536 minThe Resus RoomHead Injury; Roadside to ResusHead injury worldwide is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality. Besides prevention there isn't anything that can be done to improve the results from the primary brain injury, there is however a phenomenal amount that can be done to reduce the secondary brain injury that patients suffer, both from a prehospital and in hospital point of view. In the podcast we run through head injuries, all the way from initial classification and investigation, to specifics of treatment including neuro protective anaesthesia and hyperosmolar therapy, to give a sound overview of the management of these...
2018-07-1647 minThe Resus RoomExternal Haemorrhage; Roadside to ResusManaging external haemorrhage is easy right?! Then why does haemorrhage remain a major cause of death from trauma worldwide? Ok, some of that is from internal sources, but…. No one should die from compressible external haemorrhage With the right treatment applied in a timely fashion, the vast majority of these bleeds can be stopped. But with new advances like haemostatic agents, changing advice surrounding tourniquet use and practice changing evidence coming out of conflict zones can mean it’s difficult to remain current with the latest best practice. So what options are available to u...
2018-06-2041 minThe Resus RoomPaediatric Arrest; Roadside to ResusThe management of a cardiac arrest can be stressful at the best of times, but add into that the patient being a child and you have the potential for an overwhelmingly stressful situation. Fortunately the major resuscitation bodies have some sound guidance on the management of paediatric arrests. In this episode we run through some of those guidelines and also the evidence base on the topic (scant at best!). We also touch on conveyance of the prehospital paediatric arrest, bringing familiy into the resuscitation area and knowing when to cease resuscitation. We hope the podcast...
2018-05-211h 13The Resus RoomStatistics DemystifiedEvidence based medicine (EBM) allows us to deliver the best care to our patients and understanding the concepts involved is crucial. Over the last 18 month we've been building an online course to give people a sound understanding of EBM and we thought we'd give you a free taster of what it's all about. Have a listen to one of our episodes here on statistics and if you want to find out more have a read below about the full course at www.CriticalAppraisalLowdown.co.uk Enjoy! Simon, Rob & James
2018-04-2322 minThe Resus RoomTrauma Care 2018For this episode we’ve been lucky enough to catch a number of the speakers from the traumacare conference. First up, conference organiser Caroline Leech (EM + PHEM consultant) gave us a few minutes of her time to talk about the latest major trauma key performance indicators from NICE. Nicola Curry (Consultant Haematologist) spoke about transfusion in trauma and the use of massive haemorrhage protocols. Importantly, she covers the evidence behind the current strategies and where future research opportunities exist. Stuart Reid (EM + PHEM consultant) covered the ways of optimising timely transfer of major tr...
2018-04-1830 minThe Resus RoomA case to make you think...In this episode Rob takes us through a case he saw recently that brought about some invaluable learning. We're not going to give you anymore clues than that! Enjoy! Simon & Rob References & Further Reading (anonymised to keep the anticipation!) Article 1 Article 2 Article 3 Article 4
2018-04-0924 minThe Resus RoomRSI; Roadside to ResusGaining control of the airway in a critically unwell patient is a key skill of the critical care team and littered with potential for difficulty and complications. NAP4 highlighted the real dangers faced with their review of complications of airway management in the UK, lessons have been learnt and practice has progressed. As always there is room to improve on current practice and a recent paper published in Anaesthesia describes a comprehensive strategy to optimise oxygenation, airway management, and tracheal intubation in critically ill patients in all hospital locations. In this podcast we cover;...
2018-03-2048 minThe Resus RoomSepsis; Roadside to ResusSo the three of us are back together and going to take on Sepsis! It's vital to have a sound understanding of sepsis. It has a huge morbidity and mortality but importantly there is so much that we can do both prehospital and in hospital to improve patient outcomes. In the podcast we cover the following; Definitions Scale of problem Different bodies; NICE/Sepsis Trust/3rd international consensus definition including qSOFA Handover and pre alerts Treatment; Sepsis 6 The evidence base behind treatment Contentious areas Prehospital abx Fever control Steroids ETCO2 We hope the po...
2018-02-221h 09The Resus RoomPrehospital Care; FPHC conferencePrehospital Care is evolving rapidly and is one of the most exciting and dynamic specialties to be involved with at the moment. As a reflection of it's progress the Faculty of Pre Hospital Care held its first scientific conference this week. We were lucky enough to be invited by Caroline Leech, EM & PHEM Consultant and the person responsible for organising this superb event, to interview some of the superb speakers at the event. Here are the speakers we were lucky enough to catch up with and the topics they discuss Matt Thomas – Hyperoxia: whe...
2018-01-1229 minThe Resus RoomHandover; Roadside to ResusHandover matters. Handover of patient care occurs at multiple points in the patient's journey and is a crucial point for transference of information and inter professional working. Whether it's the big trauma in Resus with the prehospital services presenting to the big crowd, right the way through to the patient coming to minors who looks like they will be going home shorty, each of these transactions of information needs to be done correctly. Handover can be stressful though and different parties will have different priorities that they are trying to juggle. In this...
2017-12-1139 minThe Resus RoomTraumatic Arrest; Roadside to ResusTraumatic Cardiac Arrest; for many of us an infrequent presentation and it that lies the problem. In our previous cardiac arrest podcast we talked about the approach to the arresting patient, however in trauma the approach change significantly. We require a different set of skills and priorities and having the whole team on board whilst sharing the same mental model is key. Have a listen to the podcast and let us know your thoughts. The references are below but if you only read one thing take a look at the ERC Guidelines on...
2017-11-2044 minThe Resus RoomReturn in spontaneous circulation; Roadside to ResusLast time in Roadside to Resus we discussed cardiac arrest with a view to obtaining a return in spontaneous circulation, ROSC. However gaining a ROSC is just one step along the long road to discharging a patient with a good neurological function back into the community. In fact ROSC is really where all of the hard work really starts! In this podcast we talk more about the evidence base and algorithms that exist to guide and support practice once a ROSC is achieved. We'd strongly encourage you to go and have a look at the...
2017-10-1654 minThe Resus RoomCardiac Arrest; Roadside to ResusWe have a significant way to go with respect to our cardiac arrest management. ‘Cardiopulmoary Resuscitation is attempted in nearly 30,000 people who suffered OHCA in England each year, but survival rates are low and compare unfavourably to a number of other countries’ - Resuscitation to Recovery 2017 25% of patients get a ROSC with 7-8% of patients surviving to hospital discharge, which as mentioned is hugely below some countries. In this podcast we run through cardiac arrest management and the associated evidence base, right from chest compressions, through to drugs, prognostication and ceasing resusci...
2017-09-211h 13The Resus RoomAsthma; Roadside to Resus Part 2This is the second part of the Roadside to Resus discussion on asthma. Make sure you’ve listened to part 1 before delving into this one! Part 2 covers Ketamine Ultrasound in asthma NIV in asthma Asthma related cardiac arrest Imaging Management Discharge We hope you enjoy the episode and would love to hear your feedback! Simon, Rob & James References & Further Reading BTS Asthma Guidelines 2016 Intravenous or nebulised magnesium sulphate versus standard therapy for severe acute asthma (3Mg trial): a double-blind, randomised controlled trial. Goodacre S. Lancet Respir...
2017-08-2123 minThe Resus RoomAsthma; Roadside to Resus Part 1Asthma is a common disease and presents to acute healthcare services extremely frequently. The majority of presentations are mild exacerbations of a known diagnosis and are relatively simple to assess and treat, many being completely appropriate for out patient treatment. On the other hand around 200 deaths per year are attributable in the UK to asthma, and therefore in the relatively young group of patients there is a real potential for critical illness with catastrophic consequence if not treated effectively. The majority of these deaths occur prior to the patient making it to hospital making the...
2017-08-1430 minThe Resus RoomAcute Heart Failure; Roadside to ResusThis is the first of a new series of Roadside to Resus podcasts. We've been joined by James Yates, a Critical Care Paramedic with the Great Western Air Ambulance to make it a truly multidisciplinary team. Each monthly episode we'll be discussing acute presentations, including the latest and most influential evidence base surrounding them. We really want to break down some barriers between pre-hospital and in hospital teams and it soon becomes evident in this first podcast that many of the problems we face are shared throughout the patient journey and across disciplines! We're starting of...
2017-07-2039 minThe Resus RoomCarbon MonoxideCarbon Monoxide poisoning is definitely one of those differentials that you consider when the patients books into ED with '?carbon monoxide poisoning'...... but how much do we really think about it in a patient that hasn't been sent down to the ED with this specific thought in mind? Rob Fenwick talks us through the key points of Carbon Monoxide poisoning and some recent evidence on the topic which will probably make us consider the possibility a bit more frequently! This podcast was based around the post Rob wrote for Jonathan Downham's superb Critical Care Practitioner podcast. G...
2016-06-1214 minThe Resus RoomHypothermiaRob Fenwick talks to us about this common condition and amongst others throws up a few surprises about the risks of rewarming. Enjoy
2016-04-0626 minThe Resus RoomAnaphylaxisRob Fenwick talks us through some key points regarding anaphylaxis and some recent literature which may be a surprise regarding biphasic reactions, enjoy!
2016-03-0528 min