I’ve long held the option that the experts in prehospital care are the clinicians who are trained for it – whether volunteer ambulance officers, career paramedics or specialist retrieval services. Doctors don’t always have the capability to ‘value add’ on scene, unless they’ve undergone additional training in prehospital care. Skills from the well-equipped and staffed […]
Sandpiper Australia – 2020 ahead Read More »
Many of you involved in airway management will be familiar with the ‘Vortex Approach‘, the brainchild of anaesthetist Nicholas Chrimes and emergency physician Peter Fritz in Melbourne, Australia Designed as a simple tool to open up communication in emergency airway management, the Vortex has been refined over the past few years and there is a
All Hail the 3D Vortex Model Read More »
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
Airway Plan & Kit Dump Read More »
The issue of the MyHealthRecord been troubling me. I lack the eloquence to express my concerns sometimes, so please bear with me. I’ve also thought long and hard about this issue and been in active discussion with may leading doctors in Australia on this via backchannels. It is an important topic and one that impacts
Why I am opting out of MyHealthRecord – for now Read More »
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
Paralysed by indecision Read More »
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
How to register with the free GoodSAM app – a walk-through Read More »
We’re all familiar with the parable of the Good Samaritan from Old Testament times. Regardless of religious affiliation, it’s a positive affirmation of the fact that the vast majority of humans are prepared to help another in times of need. Of course rural folk are used to this. One of the things I love about
Are you prepared to help a neighbour in trouble? Read More »
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
An Affair of the Heart – Valentines Day Message to Clinicians Read More »
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
Snake Bite in Rural Hospital Read More »
I’m proud to be a rural doctor. My training is in not just Primary Care but also in Emergency Medicine, Obstetrics and Anaesthesia. To be able to serve their communities best, rural doctors need broad brush skills across the board. Rather than the finely-honed precision instrument of the specialist (akin to a scalpel), rural generalists
Rural Generalist, Swiss Army Knives & Waiting Lists Read More »