The Resus Room

Seizures are defined as a “paroxysmal electrical discharge of the neurones in the brain resulting in a change of function or behaviour”. All of us involved in Emergency Care will encounter patients with seizures which can occur for a number of reasons, with Epilepsy affecting 1 in 100 people in the UK. Being able to identify the cause, terminate ongoing seizures and provide ongoing investigation and care is complicated and of paramount importance, as some of these episodes carry with them a high morbidity and mortality rate. In this episode of Roadside to Resus we run through the following; The scale of the problem Causes of seizures Definition of status epilepticus Different forms of seizures Clinical assessment Investigations Antiepileptic’s Management& guidelines; both Pre and In-hospital RSI for status epilepticus Follow up and guidance As always we’d love to hear any thoughts or comments you have on the website and via twitter, and make sure you take a look at the references and guidelines linked below to draw your own conclusions. Enjoy! Simon, Rob & James

Happy New Year!! We hope you've all had a great Christmas and New Year and that you managed to get some well earned time off over the festive period.  2019 saw us publish more insights from lead authors of the latest and most influential studies in Emergency Medicine and Critical Care, and we're really excited to say that we'll be delivering you even more in 2020 with some excellent RCTs, international guidelines and much, much more! This month we've got 3 papers to challenge practice across a wide array of practice. We start off with a paper that evaluates if we can change our d-dimer thresholds in suspected PE's and how many unnecessary work ups and scans that might decrease. Next, following on from our previous Hypothermia podcast, we have a look at a paper which looks at the best rewarming rates in patients with hypothermia, which may change your rewarming strategies.... Finally we have a think about our use of CT scanning in patients who gain a ROSC after cardiac arrest, and consider what benefit full body CT scanning might bring. Thanks to all of you for your support with the podcast over the last year and we look forward to bringing you some great stuff in 2020! Enjoy Simon & Rob

REBOA, ECMO, Thoracotomy? Where should we be focussing our attention in the world of Pre-hospital care? We were lucky enough to be invited to the London Trauma Conference on the Prehospital Day supported by the Norwegian Air Ambulance Foundation. The day focussed on the areas we can make a real impact to the outcomes of our pre-hospital critical care patients. We grabbed a few minutes time of the following speakers to hear their thoughts; Introosseous Access; Jerry Nolan Pre-hospital Blood products; Jostein Hagemo Communication under pressure; Dr Stephen Hearn Pre-hospital Critical Care - what should the near future look like? Dr Stephen Rashford Have a listen and as always we’d love to hear any thoughts or comments you have on the website and via twitter, and take a look at the references below to draw your own conclusions. We'll be back in the new year with monthly episodes of Papers of the Month and Roadside to Resus; have a great Christmas and New Year and we'll speak to you soon! Enjoy! Simon, Rob & James

Well the year has flown by and it's already time for December's Papers of the Month Podcast! Head injuries are a huge work load for those of us involved in Emergency Care. Identifying those at risk of deterioration from a traumatic brain injury is a priority, as early intervention and prognostication can make a huge difference to patient outcomes. CT scanning is relatively easy to access and with it investigation creep has lowered our threshold of investigation and use of radiology resources; first up we have a look at a paper that looks at the potential benefits from employing a number of different guidelines in identifying the patients with traumatic brain injury, whilst comparing the risk of over investigation. Next up we have a look at the commonly made diagnosis of urinary tract infection in the older population and a review paper that will help you make the right diagnosis when it's present and not over diagnose when not. Finally we have a think about the potential benefit of a fluid bolus during induction of anaesthesia for our patients undergoing RSI; can a 500 mL fluid bolus prevent cardiovascular collapse? And we also hear the authors insights on the great RCT. Make sure to get in touch with any comments on any of the reviews, and importantly make sure you check out the papers and draw your own conclusions. Enjoy! Simon & Rob

Angioedema is something we'll all encounter in the acute setting, whether we recognise it or not... Understanding the different causes and mechanisms is imperative to ensuring the patients get treatment that is not only effective, but in extremis potentially lifesaving. In this episode we talk through the condition; from clinical presentation, causative agents, mechanisms of action, differentials and the evidence base of treatment. Get in touch with any comments on the podcast, ensure to read the papers that are referenced yourself and draw your own conclusions. Enjoy! Simon & Rob  

As care on our emergency and urgent care demand is on an ever upwards course, whilst alongside this the scope of what we can potentially deliver to patients is also increasing. In order to meet this demand and to deliver the best care possible to our patients we will need to look for other solutions. We were lucky enough to be invited to the First Community Emergency at the Royal Society of Medicine in London, hosted by the Physician's Response Unit. This event looked at the current challenges and explored solutions and opportunities for more collaborative working. In this podcast you'll hear from Tony Joy about the concept and practice of Community Emergency Medicine. You'll hear from Gareth Davies on the history of Pre Hospital Emergency Medicine, both challenges and achievements. Finally you'll hear from Bill Leaning, PRU clinical manager & HEMS paramedic about how to go about setting up a service. Please let us know any thoughts or feedback, and we'll be back with another podcast on a clinical topic for you in a few days time. Enjoy! Simon & James

We've got some papers this month that focus on our sickest patients! If you had a patient that you found in cardiac arrest and you believed they had a PE, would you thrombolyse them during the arrest, and how much more likely do you think they would be to survive? Our first paper looks at exactly this question. Second up we consider the potential harms associated with adrenaline administration to those in traumatic arrest. Finally, when RSI'ing a patient and considering your pharmacological cocktail, how likely are you to reach for the fentanyl and how much concern would you have over the risk of this rendering the patient haemodynamically unstable? We take a look at a recent review on the topic and get Dr. Ian Ferguson's insights as the lead author. Make sure to get in touch with any comments on any of the reviews, and importantly make sure you check out the papers and draw your own conclusions. Enjoy! Simon & Rob

The podcast explores the potential of Tranexamic Acid (TXA) to save lives in head injuries, as shown in the CRASH-3 paper. They discuss TXA's effectiveness in trauma patients and postpartum hemorrhage, emphasizing the crucial role of early treatment. The episode includes an interview with lead author, Professor Ian Roberts, and references key trials like CRASH-2 and WOMAN.

Welcome to October '19 papers podcast. You can't go far without the topic of TXA as a treatment for anything that bleeds being mentioned! With the publication of CRASH-2 and the WOMAN trial practice has crept such that administration in gastro-intestinal bleeding is seen fairly frequently. However, current guidelines don't recommend the use of TXA in GI bleeding, so this month we have a look at a systematic review which looks to answer whether it's administration is supported by the evidence, before we get a definitive answer from the HALT-IT trial. Next up, following on from our Burns Roadside to Resus podcast, we take a look at a paper that quantifies the potential benefit of thorough first aid in the management of paediatric burns, a really key paper on the topic, with really powerful results. Finally, we all know that Sepsis is a core area of our practice, but at times it may feel like the attention on those that could possibly have severe sepsis displaces the ability to care for other critically ill patients. We take a look at a great paper developing a prehospital screening tool to focus in on those patients that really do require time-critical care. Enjoy! Simon & Rob  

So as promised, and following on from our previous shock episode, this time we've covered the topic of shock in Trauma. It's a massive topic and one that we all, yet again, can make a huge difference for our patients' outcomes.  There is some crossover as you'd expect from the concepts and assessment that we covered in our Shock episode, so we'd recommend taking a listen to that one first. Make sure you have a comfy seat and plenty of refreshments to keep you going for this one as we cover the following; Definition Aetiology Hypovolaemic shock Neurogenic shock Obstructive shock Cardiogenic shock Physiology; Traumatic coagulopathy Other diagnostics Controlling external haemorrhage Pelvic binders REBOA Avoiding coagulopathy BP targets & permissive hypotension Fluid choices & supporting evidence TEG/ROTEM Calcium TXA Vasopressors Preventing hypothermia Relieving obstruction Interventional radiology Damage control surgery As always we’d love to hear any thoughts or comments you have on the website and via twitter, and make sure you take a look at the references and guidelines linked below to draw your own conclusions. Enjoy! Simon, Rob & James References Shock;The Resus Room podcast REBOA;The Resus Room podcast External Haemorrhage;The Resus Room podcast Blood;PHEMCAST TEG & ROTEM;FOAMcast Major Trauma guideline;NICE Resuscitative endovascular balloon occlusion of the aorta (REBOA):a population based gap analysis of trauma patients in England and Wales Nationwide Analysis of Resuscitative Endovascular Balloon Occlusion of the Aorta in Civilian Trauma. Joseph B. JAMA Surg. 2019 The Pre-hospital Management of Pelvic Fractures: Initial Consensus Statement. I Scott. FPHC. 2012 RePHILL;Birmingham University Trials Assessment and Treatment of Spinal Cord Injuries and Neurogenic Shock;Fox A. JEMS Transfusion of plasma, platelets, and red blood cells in a 1:1:1 vs a 1:1:2 ratio and mortality in patients with severe trauma: the PROPPR randomized clinical trial. Holcomb JB. JAMA. 2015 Risks and benefitsof hypotensive resuscitation in patients with traumatic hemorrhagic shock: a meta-analysis. Owattanapanich N. Scand J Trauma Resusc Emerg Med. 2018 The CRASH-2 trial: a randomised controlled trial and economic evaluation of the effects of tranexamic acid on death, vascular occlusive events and transfusion requirement in bleeding trauma patients.Roberts I. Health Technol Assess. 2013 TEG and ROTEM for diagnosing trauma‑induced coagulopathy (disorder of the clotting system) in adult trauma patients with bleeding;Cochrane Review. 2015  Optimal Dose, Timing and Ratio of Blood Products in Massive Transfusion: Results from a Systematic Review.McQuilten ZK. Transfus Med Rev. 2018 Prehospital Plasma during Air Medical Transport in Trauma Patients at Risk for Hemorrhagic Shock.Sperry JL. N Engl J Med. 2018