Grand Rounds Recap 3.27.19

Grand Rounds Recap 3.27.19

Enjoy this week’s Grand Round’s Recap. Dr. Murphy started us off with a great Morbidity and Mortality conference with a variety of fascinating cases. Next, Dr. LaFollette taught us some pearls for HEENT emergencies if you are out in the community. Dr. Hunt took us through transfusion reactions and how to manage them, followed by Dr. Hall discussing the management pearls of Nonconvulsive Status Epilepticus. Next, Dr. Connelly taught us how we can incorporate alternative EKG leads into our practice, and Dr. Klaszky finished our day with a nuanced take of how to manage refractory septic shock. It was a jam packed day full of great learning!

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Whole Blood - More than the Sum of Its Components?

Whole Blood - More than the Sum of Its Components?

Q: For a patient in hemorrhagic shock from acute blood loss, what is the best resuscitative fluid?  

A: If they've lost blood, give them blood.  

It's never quite that simple though right?  For a generation now, we have practiced primarily by transfusing patient's with acute blood loss varying ratios of blood product components.  Thanks to the PROPPR trial, we most recently arrived on a generally accepted ratio of 1:1:1 for Plasma, Platelets, and Red Blood Cells for severely injured bleeding trauma patients.  Recent military literature however, suggests that there may be another strategy (which is in and of itself a bit of a throwback) that could offer additional benefits over a component transfusion strategy.  If were are trying to recreate a whole blood with a 1:1:1 plasma:platetel:PRBC ratio, why not just give whole blood?

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Air Care Orientation Case #1

Air Care Orientation Case #1

This is Case #1 of our Air Care Orientation Curriculum!  This curriculum is designed to help prepare our rising R2's for their new responsibility as flight physicians.  These cases are discussed amongst our training flight docs and this is the resultant learning points.  In this case, we discuss a sick trauma patient that needs multiple interventions.  But what interventions need to be done?  In what order?  And who should do them?  Read on to find out!

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Grand Rounds Recap - 11/19/2014

Grand Rounds Recap - 11/19/2014

Mortality and Morbidity Conference with Dr. Gozman

Thrombocytopenia

Always consider medications as a key cause of throbocytopenia

Recommendations for platelet transfusion currently include:

  • Patients on chemotherapy with <10K
  • Patients requiring central venous access with <20K
  • Patients requiring an LP with <50K
  • Patients requiring non-neurologic surgical interventions with <50K
  • Patients requiring CNS surgical intervention with <80K

There is not data to support platelet transfusion in patients with intracerebral hemorrhage on an antiplatetlet agent

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Lessons in Transport - Plasma? We Got That...

Lessons in Transport - Plasma? We Got That...

Why is Air Care starting to transport and infuse plasma? Multiple studies, many from military combat zones, strongly suggest that clinical outcomes are improved by administration of plasma alongside RBCs in a 1:1 ratio. (1,2) Furthermore, the concept of damage control resuscitation advocates for minimizing crystalloid infusion and maximizing early aggressive resuscitation with blood products in patients with life threatening hemorrhage. Recent unpublished analysis suggests that expanding these resuscitation principles to the prehospital environment via helicopter EMS was associated with improved outcomes.

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