The Resus Room

Motor 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’re back on it again because today the Faculty of Pre Hospital Care have released their Consensus Statement on Extrication Following a Motor Vehicle Collision.  The statement builds on the work from the EXIT project and the research that has helped inform our understanding of multiple factors of extrication. The statement will inform a change of practice for both clinicians and non-medical responders and in this episode we run through the statement with two of it’s authors and discuss the practical applications. Make sure you take a look at the new Consensus Statement itself and the background evidence which is all linked to on the website. Once again we’d love to hear any thoughts or feedback either on the website or via X @TheResusRoom! Simon, Rob & James

Welcome back to the podcast and to November's Papers of the Month! We start off looking at the rate of pneumothoraces in patients following ROSC after a medical cardiac arrest. What is the incidence? Are there any risk factors? And how might this affect our index of suspicion and imaging practice? We've spoken before about how difficult vertigo can be as a presentation to the Emergency Department; really common, often benign but with differentials that include posterior circulatory strokes, tumours and infections. Our second paper looks at a clinical risk score for patients presenting with vertigo to the ED and consider how this might affect practice. And finally we take a look at a great paper focussing on pre-alerts to the ED; consider current barriers, understanding and ways that we could improve the process both for the patients and staff. Once again we’d love to hear any thoughts or feedback either on the website or via X @TheResusRoom! Simon & Rob

In 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 effects on mineralocorticoids and glucocorticoids and the signs and symptoms that will occurs as a result.  Many of the patients presenting to the department will be unknown to have adrenal insufficiency and we’ll run through those who are at higher risk, including a huge group due to ongoing medication, who may be those on steroid doses much lower than you would previously have considered as significant.  NICE published their most recent guidance on Adrenal Insufficiency in August this year and we’ll be referring to a lot of this as we run through the episode.  We’ll finish up looking at the critical presentation of Adrenal Crisis and the emergency and ongoing management, along with how we support patients with insufficiency to prevent a crisis occurring.  Once again we’d love to hear any thoughts or feedback either on the website or via X @TheResusRoom! Simon, Rob & James

Welcome back to October's Papers of the Month. We've been really spoilt with three fantastic papers to discuss this month! First up we take a look at the accuracy of non-invasive blood pressure readings in critically unwell patients in the prehospital environment and see how they could falsely reassure in both hypotension and hypertension. Next up we take a look at the superb SHED study, which looks to evaluate the accuracy of a plain CT head in identifying subarachnoid haemorrhage at different time frames. Currently NICE recommend an LP after a negative scan if the scan was performed more than 6 hours from onset. But what does this significant  dataset show and importantly how likely are you to 'miss' an aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage if scanned within the first 24 hours and not following up with an LP? Lastly we look at a paper that highlight the potential benefit of naloxone in out of hospital cardiac arrest in opioid overdose. This delves into priorities in resuscitation, the fundamentals and some possible unexpected physiological effects from naloxone. Once again we’d love to hear any thoughts or feedback either on the website or via X @TheResusRoom! Simon & Rob