Rural trauma – a high-speed vehicle roll over, a farming accident with a chainsaw, a gas BBQ explosion at the family picnic. These are all scenarios that may affect individuals & families…and the rural community. Occasionally a multi-agency event such as a bushfire, extreme weather event or other natural disaster will cause traumatic injuries and …
Category: Trauma
CICO Trainer for under $5
The dreaded ‘cannot intubate, cannot oxygenate’ scenario is one which most clinicians will never encounter. In elective anaesthesia, the CICO rate has been described by Cook & Macdougall as 1/5000 in elective cases, proceeding to emergency surgical airway in 1/50,000 (a more recent study from Japan describes CICO as 1/32,000 – either way, a rare event). CICV although rare, accounts …
Safety in Resus – Use the Whiteboard!
There’s no doubt that for the small rural emergency department, a critically unwell patient can quickly overwhelm available resources. Like many small rural hospitals in Australia, there is one doctor on call for emergency presentations, with the ward-based nursing staff (two in out location) responsible for ward care, assessment of outpatient attendances as well as …
The Cutting Edge
I’ve just had the incredible good fortune to spend a few days between GP15 and PAIC2015 as a speaker and facilitator at RescueExperienceOz events in Victoria and Tasmania. The one day Rescue Experience workshops are provided free of charge around the world by Holmatro – the makers of rescue tools. I don’t know anything about hydraulics …