Have you ever wondered what is happening pathologically to your hypovolemic trauma patient? You know they’re losing a lot of blood but what else could they be losing? Calcium! Calcium enters your cardiac muscle cells and helps with the electrical signal. This mineral also plays a role in myocardial contraction. There are two types of …
So when you first start studying medicine, you try as hard as you can to basically remember the waterfall of information thrown at you without caring about the big question of WHY. Always remember that the body will try to compensate in deficit area in order to remain in that happy state of equilibrium. Knowing …
We often times recognize a successful intubation as passing the tube through the cords. In reality, there’s a lot more to it than just that. A successful intubation includes adequately resuscitating your patient prior to the intubation, successfully delivering the tube, and providing proper monitoring and care after delivering the tube. Often times a great …
Hemorrhage is the leading cause of death in trauma. Patients with intra abdominal, pelvic, or intrathoracic hemorrhages have an extremely high mortality rate. Prehospital providers can only fix one of the two types of hemorrhages. The categories of hemorrhages include: Compressible- Can be stopped with direct pressure/tourniquet (usually on the extremities). Non-compressible- Usually happens in …
Pump Up that Balloon Before Your Patient is Doomed: REBOA in Trauma Read More »
TXA in trauma has been a hot topic for several years in the medical community…. So why bring it up again? Across Europe, this drug is being used widely in both the prehospital and hospital environments. When it comes to emergency medicine in the USA, we aren’t hitting as high on the bar as our …