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Showing posts with the label cardiac arrest

"Why Ultrasound Belongs in EMS"

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While perusing the the twitter sphere I found this tweet... Ultrasound in every service.My #ECCU2015 pick with Drew Harrell MD @tingles005 @paramedic_al https://t.co/CUAHCNagaI pic.twitter.com/mQs1Tj6eZc — Word on the Street (@wotsukrobl) December 11, 2015 It really caught my eye thanks to the paper I just wrote and shared  here . Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS) has great utility in acute care and it will probably be the only imaging modality that could reasonably  be put in an ambulance. Sonosite and Philips  just released pocket/tablet form US devices that could easily be kept next to a cardiac monitor. If Philips is listening they will realize they make EMS cardiac monitors and US probes that could be added together... just an idea.

Hold your ground during the charge!

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#AAEM15 Winters: 18% Inc in mortality per 5 seconds of pause during CPR. http://t.co/QpVVdvYx7F — San Antonio EM (@SanAntonioEM) March 2, 2015 Excuse me? you said what? "In patients with cardiac arrest presenting in a shockable rhythm during the ROC PRIMED trial, shorter pre- and peri-shock pauses were significantly associated with higher odds of survival. Future cardiopulmonary education and technology should focus on minimizing all peri-shock pauses." (Cheskes et all., 2013) Decreasing peri-shock pauses is a good thing.  Fig. 2. Cheskes et all., 2013 The less time we are squeezing the chest, the less time the victim is perfusing and the less their chances of survival.  To  maximize perfusion, the 2010 AHA Guidelines for CPR and  ECC recommend minimizing pauses in chest compressions.  Expert consensus is that a Chest Compression Fraction (CCF) of 80% is achievable in a variety  of settings. ( Meaney et all., 2013) A viable method to decrease compression pa