Introductions and Airway Case Review
Introductions
- Dan Background
- Steve Background
- Review the rules for getting CE
Airway Case Review
- Dispatch
- En route
- Arrival
- First impression
- Patient presentation and location
- History
- Vital signs
- Exam findings
- Thoughts running through your head
- Five things you wanted to be done 10 minutes ago
- Transport decision
- Notification to the receiving hospital
- Transport changes with the patient
- Arrival at the hospital
- Thoughts afterward
Clinically significant findings in the traumatic airway
- Unconscious bias can influence important decisions prior to arriving on scene. Always weigh the pros and cons of each decision carefully
- Always conduct your initial scene assessment, followed by a primary assessment of the patient
- Hospital distance, patient presentation, and resource availability all influence whether a provider should stay and play or load and go
- Hypotension, oxygenation and pH must be managed prior to intubation or cardiac arrest can occur
- Ketamine can be beneficial prior to intubation to facilitate airway management, along with managing combative patients
- Auscultate over the stomach and both lungs, and then use end tidal to confirm tube placement
- Hypercarbia can be managed by increasing ventilations, while hypocarbia can be managed by decreasing ventilations
- Tunnel vision can cause problems appropriately managing a patient, remember to look at overall patient presentation
- Do what is best for your patient, not your ego
- Always do a thorough primary and secondary trauma assessment to ensure critical issues are not overlooked
- Recognizing and learning from mistakes is one of the most important things a medical provider can do throughout their career in medicine.
Content Creator: Steve Williams
CAPCE Course Number: 20-EMTP-F3-3801
Total CE Hours: 1
Level: Advanced
