January 2025; papers of the month

Happy New Year!!!

We hope you've had some time off over the festive period and now we're back to kick start the new year with three more great papers.

Syncope is common presentation to the Emergency Department, accounting for 1% of presentations. Without a clear precipitant of the event it can be challenging to identify those patients who have a higher risk of associated morbidity and mortality, and furthermore those who would benefit from further investigation and observations. Our first paper looks at syncope risk-stratification tools and sheds some light on their utility.

Acute exacerbations of COPD with acute type 2 respiratory failure and frequently treated with non-invasive ventilation (NIV), with high flow nasal oxygenation a treatment normally for patients in type 1 respiratory failure. However our second paper is a fantastic RCT looking at the the application of either NIV or high flow nasal oxygenation in those type 2 COPD exacerbations, are both options for our patients?

Finally, since the advent of trauma networks in the UK, prehospital patients have been triaged to the most relevant centre based upon trauma triage tools. Our third paper looks at the performance of these tools and gives valuable insights for both those clinicians using the tools and those receiving trauma patients in both MTCs and other trauma units.

Once again we’d love to hear any thoughts or feedback either on the website or via X @TheResusRoom!

Simon & Rob