Truth of the matter is that most of the emergencies in my tiny rural hospital ED are relatively straightforward – injured bones, psychiatric emergencies, infections, cardiac conditions and so on. Every now and then we are challenged with a patient requiring retrieval, but most of those need either meticulous monitoring, inotropic support or transfer to …
Category: Emergency
Paralysed by indecision
One of the defining skills of being a doctor is the need to make decisions, sometimes with limited information and under significant time pressure. As I’ve matured in my career, I’ve realised that most of what I was taught in medical school was just plain wrong. The ongoing challenge has been to identify WHICh bits …
How to register with the free GoodSAM app – a walk-through
Imagine the situation. There is a sudden collapse in the coffee shop where you are enjoying a latte. You are fairly are that the person has had a sudden cardiac arrest and call 000 or help….but the ambulance will take at least 8-10 minutes to arrive, even as a priority one (probably longer in rural …
An Affair of the Heart – Valentines Day Message to Clinicians
Community leadership. As clinicians we have a wonderful opportunity to educate – not just in the consulting room and on the wards…but also to get out there and make a difference. On 14th Feb (Valentine’s Day) it’s only appropriate that we consider the importance of the heart! Sudden cardiac death is estimated to affect over …
Snake Bite in Rural Hospital
We’ve had a spate of snake bites on Kangaroo Island over the holiday period. So I thought it would be worth reviewing snake bite management. Not least because I’ve had some sensible suggestions from my colleagues at Raptor Domain / KI Birds of Prey who run South Australias only ‘in-flight’ bird display AND offer a …