EMCrit Podcast

Discover effective strategies for intubating critically ill patients with gastrointestinal bleeds. Learn the importance of emptying the stomach and preoxygenation techniques to safeguard against aspiration. Explore unique intubation methods using advanced tools like fiberoptic laryngoscopy, and understand the significance of using paralytics for optimal results. Additionally, uncover key insights into managing post-aspiration care and the effects of systemic inflammatory responses on recovery. This session is packed with practical tips for high-pressure scenarios!

This lecture is part of the Laryngoscope as a Murder Weapon Series: Hemodynamic Kills Oxygenation Kills Ventilatory Kills Sorry about the voice--blame the swine flu. Case Thanks to Joe Chiang Severe DKA; Obtunded with pH 6.65, PaCO2 18, Bicarb 5 Pt’s mental status is worsening The decision is made to intubate Should you give NaBicarb? Probably won’t help as patient is already breathing at their maximum. Unless they blow off the Bicarb-generated CO2, they won’t increase their pH significantly. What you need Properly fitted NIV mask Ventilator, not a NIV machine Someone who knows how to work the vent Normal intubation stuff If available, Quantitative ETCO2 Procedure Place pt on pseudo-NIV Settings are Mode Volume SIMV Vt 550 ml FiO2 100% Flow Rate 30 lpm PSV 5-15 PEEP 5 RR 0 Attach ETCO2 and observe value Push the RSI Meds Turn the Resp Rate to 12 Perform jaw thrust Wait 45 seconds This violates the tenets of RSI, but keeping the pt alive is probably more crucial right now. Most experienced operator should intubate the patient Attach the ventilator Confirm tube placement by observing ETCO2 Immediately increase Respiratory Rate to 30 Change Vt to 8 cc/kg predicted IBW Change Flow Rate to 60 lpm, this si the normal setting for intubated patients (forgot to mention this in the audio) Why 30 BPM? Listen to the podcast. Make sure ETCO2 is at least as low as it was when you started Check ABG Pat yourself on the back PreVent to prevent Death (coined by Sara Crager) Now on to the Podcast...

When an ED starts providing advanced care for severe sepsis, lactate testing is an absolute requirement. Lactate use brings up a lot of questions, especially if it is not commonly ordered in your department. In this podcast, I discuss all of the lactate questions that have come up in the course of the NYC Sepsis Collaborative.

Management of traumatic arrest. Many things to do in these patients, but two things you definitely should not be doing are closed-chest CPR or giving ACLS medications. We discuss who gets a thoracotomy, what to do if a thoracotomy is not indicated, and when to stop.

In this podcast, I discuss extubating patients in the ED. Specifically, I deal with patients who have only been intubated for a few hours in distinction to extubation of the patient who has been lingering in your ED for 2-3 days. The best patients for this short-term extubation are those intox folks with a low GCS and signs of trauma, overdoses, or endoscopy cases.

The brand new ACLS & BCLS guidelines were published last week. Not huge changes, but some good stuff! The free full text is available at the Circulation website. It takes hours to make your way through all of it. I boiled it down to just the facts and posted a summary on the EMCrit site. In this EMCrit Podcast I discuss some of the highlights that I think are particularly important.

Aggressive palliative care is just as important as aggressive critical care in the ED. Sometimes we will be the first physicians to talk to a family about end of life issues, even if their loved one is terminally ill. Now that is not how it should be, but it just means that we must be just as skilled at family palliative care discussions as we are at floating a transvenous pacer. In this podcast, I discuss my vision of how to handle palliative care issues in the ED.

Even when we can't cure a patient, we can relieve suffering. On average, we kind of stink at pain control in the ED. One physician, Dr. Ed Gentile, has created a simple path to optimal acute pain control in the ED. I heard this lecture on the EM:RAP podcast and got permission from Drs. Gentile and Herbert to repost it here. This is not a critical care topic per se, but it is applicable to the critically ill, the non-critically ill--basically any patient who is in pain in the ED.

This week, I am joined by Leon Gussow, MD of the excellent blog: The Poison Review (TPR). TPR is my source for new toxicology articles; I highly recommend it as an incredible read. I got to meet Leon for a few beers a month ago; he is just a great guy. My Canadian pal, Ram, suggested calcium channel blocker OD as a podcast episode. Ram, here you go.