intubation

This week’s Elemental EM discusses how to get more mental pediatric intubation practice.

GBS is a commonly missed diagnosis in the ED which has the potential to progress to significant morbidity – learn to recognize it early on in the ED presentation!

The critically ill patient with neurologic trauma can present significant challenges for ED resuscitation. This post discusses key pearls and pitfalls in the evaluation and management of these patients.

Intubation is an important intervention in the ED. We see a critical or impending airway problem and we secure the airway with intubation–very satisfying! Yet our job does not stop there. In addition to maintaining an appropriate ventilation strategy after intubation, it is crucial that we use appropriate post-intubation sedation and analgesia regimens for the continued care of these critical patients. This post will review sedation and analgesia regimens for different clinical scenarios after intubation, as well as some common pitfalls that we must be diligent to avoid.

Intubation, especially in the septic and critically ill patient, can, by itself, cause hemodynamic abnormalities and/or hypoxemia and hypercapnea. In some situations, it may be important to make sure that the patient is adequately prepared for intubation, both from hemodynamic and pre-oxygenation standpoints. This is a brief review of some suggestions when intubating the very ill patient in the emergency department.

Airway management is a vital component to caring for critically-ill patients in the emergency department. The peri-intubation time can be chaotic. Planning for the difficult airway and preparing for all possible scenarios is best done before the arrival of a crashing patient. The following post explores some common failures in airway management and how to avoid making fatal mistakes in a critical situation.

We are masters of the airway, often managing life-threatening scenarios and conditions. However, the patient who decompensates around the time of intubation, or directly after the procedure, can be frightening. What can you do to mimize these events?

A frightening airway: the critical GI bleeder. What can you do to maximize success?