RCEM15 conference
I just came back from The Royal College of Emergency Medicine Annual Scientific Conference held in Manchester, UK from 28 to 30 September. It was an excellent conference, with great organisation and fantastic speakers including international lecturers like the larger than life Scott Weingart and amazing Cliff Reid, not to mention a range of UK based professors and consultants.
For a brilliant summary of the most exciting lectures, I recommend you visit the RCEM FOAMed Network.
I have participated with two abstracts based on the research I have conducted during the last 6 months. Both were presented as posters, and you can view them below.
Patient Results Collector, an open source computer software to facilitate clinical audits. A case study.
Can we consider adjusting cutoff point of HemosIL D-dimer assay fo the exclusion of pulmonary embolism?
Intraosseous access video lecture
Intraosseous access is now a common procedure in emergency departments. Everyone seams to be familiar with how to use some of the popular assisted devices. It is very easy to learn how to use them during a quick workshop. However, I have noticed that many do not know all the theory around it. They are good at the sexy bit of introducing the needle, but do not really understand indications, contraindications and all the other parts, like anaesthesia, to make the most of it.
Therefor, here is my new lecture to address these issues. Enjoy.
Emergency Physicians on Twitter
One of my side projects is to maintain the most comprehensive list of Emergency Physicians using Twitter . Just this weekend I took some time to brush the dust off this project that I host at TwittER ResearchER website. I double checked all the users already on the list and added some new ones. So now I am following 1232 Emergency Physicians across the globe that use Twitter!
The cool thing is that you don’t have to be an active user of Twitter yourself to tap into this exciting and fresh stream of consciousness of the best Emergency Medicine experts in the World. You can simply visit TwittER ResearchER website for a constant and real time source of useful advice, heated discussions, cutting edge research and novel ideas.
I highly recommend it first thing in the morning! You’ll see, your tea will be sweater and your coffee more creamy.
Protected: Ddimer audit
Ultrasound guided peripheral venous access video lecture
My dear readers, if you even exist anymore :-), I have neglected you. For that I am sorry. My last post was more than a year ago. A year in which I maybe some big changes in my life and career. I have moved to the United Kingdom and currently have a new, cool and shiny job. My time is divided between emergency department and medical simulation suite. So I get to do all the things I love, seeing patients, teaching others, playing with high fidelity manikins and conducting small and sweet IT projects.
During the last year or so, I have gone nuts for point of care ultrasound (POCUS). When I am in the emergency department use of ultrasound jumps by 300%. I use it very often and can say that in many ways it has revolutionised my practice. So I wanted to share my knowledge and excitement of its use. I started creating video lectures, as well as combined e-learning courses at my hospital, of all the ways ultrasound can help you make a difference for your patients.
So, insert drum roll here, here it is! My first video lecture demonstrating how to use ultrasound to gain peripheral venous access. Hope you’ll like it, because there are others following soon, and I intend to bore you with them as well 😉
CPR PRO® Device Reduces Rescuer Fatigue during CPR
We have just published an article in The Journal of Emergency Medicine titled “CPR PRO® Device Reduces Rescuer Fatigue during Continuous Chest Compression Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation: A Randomized Crossover Trial Using a Manikin Model”
This is the first trial to test the benefits of the device I have invented and have been developing the last couple of years. This device is called CPR PRO and is intended to allow rescuers to performed better chest compressions.
Here is the summary of the article:
1. Why is this topic important?
Rescuers are often required to perform cardiopulmo- nary resuscitation (CPR) for prolonged periods of time, and their fatigue has been shown to cause significant decline in quality of chest compressions, which are crucial for survival of sudden cardiac arrest victims.
2. What does this study attempt to show?
In our randomized crossover trial, health care professionals performed continuous chest compression CPR for 10 min on a manikin to evaluate the impact of a novel CPR PRO! device for manual chest compression on res- cuer fatigue, pain, and CPR quality.
3. What are the key findings?
After using the CPR PRO device, subjects reported less pain in the hands and lower perceived exertion levels, as well as achieving lower average and maximal heart rates during testing, when compared to standard manual CPR. Reduced fatigue and pain has resulted in higher average depth of chest compressions, which declined more slowly over time, than with standard manual CPR.
4. How is patient care impacted?
In a simulated setting, a novel CPR PRO device for manual chest compression has been shown to reduce the work of CPR, which allowed rescuers to achieve signifi- cantly higher quality of chest compressions. Delivering higher quality of chest compressions with minimal interruptions in the clinical setting has a potential to result in better patient outcomes after sudden cardiac arrest.
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