Getting ready to intubate? Let’s pray they don’t DESATurate!

You head over to bed 44 to meet the BLS crew as they start telling you about an 82 year old man who has been having trouble breathing and is “confused” as per his family.  His oxygen saturation when you check is 76% and quicker than you can say “sepsis”, the eager resident has popped …

TLC: Triple Lumen Complications

Placing central venous cathethers, whether under ultrasound guidance or based off of your landmarks can be difficult and still prone to many complications. With the increased use and now standard of care for placing central lines with ultrasound guidance you would think we are immune to the “catastrophic” complication of an inadvertent arterial cannulation. But does ultrasound make us infalliable? Are there other methods that we can use to confirm venous placement of these large catheters?

Throwin’ shade at the POKER Trial

There’s been a lot of chatter in the twitterverse surrounding the recent release of the POKER Trial out of Australia comparing ketofol with propofol for procedural sedation.  Their primary outcomes were looking at respiratory complications, including apnea, desaturation or hypoventilation; with secondary outcomes of hypotension and patient satisfaction.  They report “ketofol and propofol resulted in a …

Gone fishin’

The weather is finally starting to warm up and the fish are biting.  Unfortunately, amateur and pro fishermen alike will also either catch themselves or their friend while out on the waterways this summer.  While a small fishhook lodged in a finger may seem trivial compared to some of the more traumatic injuries we see, …