You’ve undoubtedly read this trite phrase somewhere in your training: “Kids aren’t just small adults!” There are many examples where this is absolutely true. Think about arterial extravasation in solid organ injury. Or severe traumatic brain injury. There are major differences in treatment aggressiveness for both of these. But whatContinue Reading
Here’s a post from my archive describing a different way to remove the foreign body. This is the technique I used, instead of the standard neck incision. The final incision was just a slight extension of the puncture wound, measuring only 1cm. I was able to grasp the head andContinue Reading
We’ve made sure that our victim of the nail gun to the neck did not need an emergent operation. Vitals are stable, there’s no uncontrolled hemorrhage, and the patient is neurologically intact. We’ve imaged him using CT angiography, and the nail does not appear to have injured any vital structures.Continue Reading
This case involves an accidental nail gun injury to the neck. The patient is hemodynamically stable, neurologically intact, the airway is patent and not threatened, and there is no apparent hematoma. There is a small puncture near the sternocleidomastoid muscle on the right, fairly high on the neck. The nailContinue Reading
Here’s a very interesting case for you. A construction worker was carrying an object inside a building WHILE HOLDING HIS NAIL GUN! As he passed through the door, his elbow hit the frame and he brushed his neck with the business end of the gun. Guess what happened? He experiencedContinue Reading
The Robert Jones dressing is a thick, padded bandage classically applied to the thigh and leg. It is thought to reduce swelling by applying even pressure to the extremity, which in turn should promote healing. And since it is a soft dressing, as opposed to a cast, there is lessContinue Reading
How long does it take for EMS to get to the scene of an emergency? That’s a loaded question, because there are many, many factors that can impact this timing. If you look at the existing literature, there are few, if any, articles that have actually looked at this successfully.Continue Reading
The July Trauma MedEd Newsletter is now available! It provides information on producing an Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) course in the times of the Coronavirus. It describes how to adhere to various safety guidelines and details the technology needed to pull it off. Topics covered include: In-Person Education AndContinue Reading
Trauma education has gotten significantly more difficult in the face of the Coronavirus. In-person education offerings like ATLS and PALS courses, TNCC courses, and major trauma conferences are routinely being cancelled or delayed. And many of them have decided to move to a virtual format. Until early this year, IContinue Reading
There’s lots of dogma in trauma care, as well as in the field of medicine generally. The knee dislocation dogma is that the incidence of vascular injury is high (around 50%) with posterior dislocation, and somewhat lower with non-posterior dislocation. At least that’s what I learned way back when. AfterContinue Reading