Archive for August 2013
How to Put on a Thumb Spica
Fractures of the wrist or forearm are one of the most common diagnoses we make in the emergency department. The ability to put on a good plaster or brace is an essential skill. Sometimes what we put on resembles something carved out of a log of wood, certainly mine did. However my techniques has improved…
Read MoreThe GuideIN tube seeks out the trachea
What’s this? A device that seeks and finds the trachea and intubates the patient?……enter the GuideIN tube. Reported this week in ‘Gizmag’ from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The media is a little abuzz with this so lets look at it. Images from ‘Gismag’. The mechanism by which it works involves an infrared light source…
Read MoreAre you still using cricoid pressure? STOP IT!
For years we have been using cricoid pressure in the emergency airway, so as to minimise regurgitation when the neuromuscular blocker is given and the gastro-oesophageal sphincter relaxes. The theory is that we use the trachea to compress the posterior lying oesophagus.We need to stop. The only real indication for cricoid pressure is when there…
Read MoreWhy I love vascular ultrasound!
I remember a time before the ultrasound when all the central lines I would do (except for coagulopathic patients) were subclavian lines. I had a real concern about the rate of pneumothoraces using the internal jugular approach. Now, they are all I will do. Thanks to the ultrasound. You don’t have to be an ultrasound…
Read More