Endocarditis

In this episode Rob takes us through a case he saw recently that brought about some invaluable learning. You can probably guess what it'll be scrolling down below... Enjoy! Simon & Rob Infographic via Strata5 References & Further Reading (anonymised to keep the anticipation!) Article 1 Article 2 Article 3 Article 4

The Crystalloid Debate

How often do you prescribe or give i.v. fluids to your patients? How much thought goes into what's contained in that fluid? What effect will you fluid choice have on your patient? Two trials on crystalloid administration in the acutely unwell patient have occupied a lot of conversation in the research world over the last [...]

Devastating Brain Injury

On a not infrequent basis we will come across patients in hospital who have a CT head scan that appears to show an unsurvivable event. Having sourced opinion from our neurosurgical and neurology colleagues we may well be given the advice to withdraw care for the patient. It has become increasingly recognised that prognosticating in [...]

TXA time to treatment

In this episode we cover a paper that you have to know about! The use of tranexamic acid(or TXA) has become widespread in the case of major trauma and bleeding and post partum haemorrhage. This time we discuss a recent paper that asks us if giving it within 3 hours is enough, or whether we [...]

FPHC Scientific Conference

Prehospital Care is evolving rapidly and is one of the most exciting and dynamic specialties to be involved with at the moment. As a reflection of it's progress the Faculty of Pre Hospital Care held  its first scientific conference this week. We were lucky enough to be invited by Caroline Leech, EM & PHEM Consultant [...]

Massive PE Thrombolysis

If you talk to people about the topic of thrombolysis in PE they'll tell you about the controversy of the submassive category, but there's a universal acceptance that thrombolysing massive PE's is well evidenced and straight forward. In this episode we delve back into the literature and not only explore massive PE thrombolysis, but also [...]

Pre-hospital Care

This podcast covers some highlights from the talks at the BASICS and The Faculty of Pre-Hospital Care 2017 Conference. We were lucky enough to be invited by Caroline Leech to cover the day and managed to grab a couple of minutes with a handful of the superb speakers; Dr. Tom Evens; Elite sports for high [...]

Bicarbonate in arrest

Bicarbonate use in cardiac arrest. The topic still provokes debate and multiple publications on the topic still hit the press reels. People talk of the increased rate of ROSC and the improvement in metabolic state, whilst others talk of the increase in mortality and worsening of intracellular acidosis. A recent paper in Resuscitation looked at [...]

C Spine Immobilisation

C-spine immobilisation is a controversial topic because of a lack of high quality evidence from clinical trials. Historical approaches have been challenged, however NICE guidance continues to recommend 3-point immobilisation for all patients with suspected spinal injury despite considerable clinical equipoise. In this episode we discuss the complexities of balancing the risks and harms when [...]