Welcome to the new Tamingthesru
Same great content - new look - improved search
Flights - A Pain in My Heart
You are the Pod doc overnight on a particularly quiet Sunday night. You have been looking for an excuse to leave the pod and do anything other than treat abdominal pain for the past several hours when the tones drop. You thank whatever celestial being you believe in and grab the blood and run out of the department full of glee. In route to the helipad you are told it is a Code STEMI. At this point, even that seems more interesting than sitting in C Pod.
You buckle into the helicopter and take a quick flight to the outside hospital. You grab a set of gloves and unload the cot carefully and walk inside.
Flights - A Blow to the Head Recap and Expert Commentary
Thanks to everybody who commented and contributed to the discussion on our last "Flight!" If you missed out on the case, check it out here. We had a great discussion which we have recapped here. Take a look below and a listen to the commentary provided by Dr. Bill Hinckley in the embedded podcast. Look for our next flight to lift off in the next couple of weeks!
What medications could be used in the care of this patient? If the patient loses his IV, how does your treatment strategy change?
This first question sparked quite a bit of debate within the community. Everybody agreed that this patient requires sedation, intubation, and more sedation. There was, however, some significant differences in how the providers would go about attaining adequate sedation.
Flights - A Blow to the Head
You’re working as the Pod-Doc, having just taken the radio from the off-going UH-doc, you just finish admitting the patient in C40 for NSTEMI when the tones go off.
“Air Care 1 and Pod Doc respond to a scene for motorcycle crash, Northern Kentucky”
You call the B-Pod attending, sign out the pod, grab the blood from the blood cooler and head to the helipad. Flying over the river, landing at a local firehouse’s parking lot you hop out of the back of the helicopter and head to the awaiting squad.
Your patient is a 29 year-old male who was riding his motorcycle (without a helmet) on a local country road. Coming around a blind corner he unexpectedly found a car stopped in the middle of the road. Striking the car from behind at ~35mph, he flew over the handlebars and impacted the back of the car.
On EMS’s arrival he was initially unconscious, but since their arrival has become increasingly combative