So in this episode we’re going to run though the primary survey in trauma. This clinical assessment helps us identify and treat life threatening injuries and to rapidly intervene and correct them, so getting it right really matter1.
How this is done is hugely dependant upon the setting (either pre or in-hospital) as it is affected by the access to the patient, the number of people there to contribute to care and the challenges that the scene or hospital environment might hold.
We run through a model of primary survey that looks to gain as much information as possible in a rapid and effective pattern and discuss the slightly different approaches we all take, along with rationale behind them.
Finally we cover the communication of the primary survey to the team, strategies that we can undertake to achieve this and how this can affect the momentum and onwards care of the patient.
We found this a really useful topic to consider in some depth and we hope it's of use to you too!
Once again we'd love to hear any comments or questions either via the website or social media.
Enjoy!
Simon, Rob & James
There have been some huge trials released over the last month and we've got three brilliant papers to discuss!
First up we take a look at an RCT on video versus direct laryngoscopy for patients requiring emergency intubation with the DEVICE trial. The VL versus DL debate has been ongoing for quite some time now, so is this a final nail in the coffin for DL?
Next up we take a look at an RCT of prehospital TXA use in patients at risk of bleeding from major trauma in the PATCH trial. The results seen in the trial look at a glance to oppose those seen in CRASH-2, so is this the end of TXA in this cohort of patients?
Finally we have a great paper giving us further information on whether we should we be initiating immediate antihypertensive treatment for patients admitted to hospital with asymptomatic hypertension.
Once again we’d love to hear any thoughts or feedback either on the website or via twitter @TheResusRoom.
Simon & Rob