Smacc

Jeremy Cohen took us on an Adrenal Function journey at SMACC Chicago with his talk Raging Hormones in Critical Care. Cohen explores the natural roll of cortisol in the human body, various schools of thought and recent research in the areas of sepsis and cortisol resistance.

Trauma is Risky Business  Deborah Stein SMACC Chicago talk Trauma is Risky Business - delves into the risk patients and physicians undergo when treating or being treated for Trauma.  Stein’s speaks of the Risk Benefit Determination that physicians make daily and how this is used to best answer on going questions such as; can a patient have?, how do we care for this patient? and how do we best make all the these decisions?.  Stein’s suggests a thorough Risk Benefit Determination will include:  # Analysis of best available data  # Use of best available judgement  # Gathering of different opinions  # An understanding that you won’t always make the right decision  # To document the 'crap' out of it!  # And,  to remember you’ll never know what you prevented from not occurring.  Stein’s also focuses on the risk to patients due to missed injuries, stating that 1.3-39% of injuries in trauma are missed (a majority of which present as orthopaedic cases). And, touching on the processes designed to prevent missed injuri

Walter Eppich engages us on the topic of Interprofessional Communication: Challenges and Opportunities.    Eppich describes communication as the engine of learning - providing it is coming from a psychologically 'safe' environment free from humiliation and punishment.   Eppich characterises a psychologically safe environment being; an environment where people can speak up with idea, questions and mistakes without being fearful of being wrong and stresses when communication breaks down, patient safety breaks down and learning breakdown.   It takes a team to do patient care.

Summary by: Rosy Wang Lactate has been viewed as a byproduct of anaerobic metabolism and an indicator of tissue hypoperfusion since the 1900s. This theory is still widely believed. Paul busts the myths surrounding lactic acidosis, anaerobic metabolism, tissue hypoxia and the role of lactate in sepsis. Key take-away facts include: - The production of lactate actually consumes hydrogen ions. Lactic acidosis is really lactic alkalosis. - Lactate is produced physiologically and is a precursor for gluconeogenesis. - During exercise, skeletal muscle exports lactate as the primary fuel for the heart and brain. - At VO2max, intracellular oxygen stays the same. Anaerobic metabolism in cells only occur as a pre-terminal event. The exception is in complete arterial occlusion. - Adrenaline promotes lactate production - Lactate infusion has been shown to increase cardiac output in septic and cardiogenic shock - Lactate is a survival advantage!

Summary By: Rosy wang You don’t have to be Bear Grylls to stay alive in the wild. Remember the rule of three - you can live 3 minutes without air, 3 hours without shelter, 3 days without water and 3 weeks without food. The two biggest killers in the wild are cold and heat. Justin discusses the physiology of our body’s responses to cold and heat and the pathophysiology of hypo- and hyperthermia. He also talks about the simple of ways of preventing cold and heat injury, including staying dry, adding layers, drink any water you can get your hands on - just not sea water. Lastly - don’t panic.

Kath Maitland takes the perspective that we should be cautious with how we give IV fluids. She argues that the underlying physiological evidence supporting the benefits of giving fluids is not there. The findings of the FEAST study are clear. Kath describes how during FEAST, the administration of fluids made the children look better, and improved the recorded physiological parameters. However these surrogate outcomes did not translate to a mortality benefit - fluid boluses were associated with increased mortality. Nick, a paeds intensivist, retaliates with how it's really about understanding physiology. He defends the position we take at the moment and discusses the issues with the parameters used to assess fluid responsiveness, but urges that we shouldn't change everything we do at the moment until we understand the physiology better. He also has nice description of the glycocalyx - "the pubic hair of the blood vessels, only more useful".

The Mystery of MODS Summary By: Oli Flowers Mervyn Singer entertains the SMACC crowd with tales of MODS (Multi Organ Dysfunction Syndrome). With videos of Raquel Welch, stories from the Battle of Trafalgar and lessons from evolution, he makes us think about the important physiology underlying critical illness. This lecture precedes the latest SIRS definition and really puts them into context and leads on to the promise of precision medicine.

Scott Weingart's lecture at SMACC-Chicago was on OODA loops and the supremacy of System I for resuscitation. Check more here

How to Diagnose Dying A patient's death maybe certain but the timing isn’t. Ashley Shreves talk is on the difficult subject of dying, and how best to understand and help diagnose when the battle is lost.  Shreves discusses the correlating patterns present in the functional decline in end of life patients, with particular reference to the type of disease a patient is suffering from. Shreves suggests, that understanding these patterns is paramount to understanding the care and medical intervention require, at certain points of a patients disease lifecycle.

Selective Aortic Arch Perfusion - Summary by: Jim Manning Selective Aortic Arch Perfusion (SAAP) is an endovascular-extracorporeal perfusion resuscitation technique designed specifically to treat cardiac arrest. SAAP involves the blind insertion of a large-lumen balloon occlusion catheter into the descending thoracic aortic arch via a femoral artery.  With the SAAP catheter balloon inflated in the thoracic aorta, the heart and brain are relatively isolated for resuscitative perfusion through the SAAP catheter lumen with an oxygen-carrying fluid (such as blood, hemoglobin-based oxygen carrier or fluorocarbon emulsion). SAAP promotes restoration of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) by the heart while protecting the brain from further ischemic insult. SAAP can be used to treat both hemorrhage-induced traumatic cardiac arrest and medical, non-traumatic cardiac arrest. In traumatic cardiac arrest, SAAP provides the combination of (1) thoracic aortic balloon occlusion for control of hemorrhage below the diaphragm, (2)

Historical prospective provides a great appreciation and understanding of Prehospital Medicine. Stefan cleverly highlights the journey of a specialty from its roots on the battlefield to the present day, where prehospital medicine has not only begun to influence, but also dictate, in hospital medicine. A brief and fascinating look at "How far we've come”.

PHARM Physician, Per Bredmose, provides an in-depth look at Ketamine in the prehospital setting. Per discusses the uses, benefits and potential complications of Ketamine, providing tips and tricks from his wealth of experience.

Dr. Karel Habig of Sydney HEMS, leads a global panel in the discussion of the retrieval of patient with a difficult airway in a rural ED. Additional discussion surrounds the capabilities of HEMS services around the world. Participants include: Dr. Geoff Healy, Dr. Stephen Hearns, Dr. Craig Bates, Dr. Mike Abernethy, Dr. Minh Le Cong, Crystal Upshaw. 

Justin Bowra - The elephant in the living room Justin Bowra takes a break from ultrasound to broach the uncool but crucial subject of health care economics. Health care spending make up a large proportion of the budgets of OECD nations, and it is increasing in relation to GDP. This is an unsustainable situation and something has got to give. In part 1 of Justin’s talk, he asks the question, where is the money going? The commonly asserted points of the aging population, better medical treatments, litigation and corporatisation of health care contribute. Justin argues, however, that the biggest problem is the system itself. To acknowledge the elephant in the living room is to acknowledge that we as doctors contribute to the problem, but we also have the greatest responsibility to be part of the solution. In part 2, Justin briefly discusses ways in which the system can be fixed. He touches on taming special interests, shared decision making, surrendering autonomy and to look at the big picture - remembering that

Tom Bleck - Subarachnoid haemorrhage: what matters? Tom Bleck gives an overview of the pertinent facts regarding the complications and management of aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH). The complications of aneurysmal SAH can be divided into immediate, early and late. The risk of re-bleeding is maximal on the first day, it is fatal in 75% of patients and the best management is to secure the aneurysm by coiling or clipping. Blood pressure control is utilised widely but parameters are arbitrary and the data is scarce. Early complications (days 1 - 3) include early brain injury in its various forms, stress cardiomyopathy, neurogenic pulmonary oedema and cerebral salt wasting. The most important late complication (day 4 onwards) is vasospasm. Tom briefly discusses the mechanisms and manifestations of SAH-associated brain injury including ischaemia, blood brain barrier breakdown, sustained depolarisation, hydrocephalus, vasospasm, seizures, hyperglycaemia and fever. He goes on to discuss in more detail the m

Dr. Brian Burns of Sydney HEMS, facilitates a global discussion on blunt abdomino-pelvic trauma 30 minutes away from ED, leading this incredible panel of experts on a hypothetical trauma case. Participants include: Dr Gareth Grier, Dr Howie Mell, Dr Thomas Dolven, Derek Sifford, NREMT-P, Dr Clare Richmond.  

Veteran Airforce Pararescueman turned critical care paramedic, Mike Lauria discusses the

Rob MacSweeney and Paul Marik debate whether the assessment of fluid responsiveness in the resuscitation of patients with shock a waste of time? Both Marik and MacSweeney agree that many of the traditional methods of assessing patients volume status are flawed and of no value. Marik goes on to argue that the only clinically meaningful outcome that we should measure in response to a fluid challenge is Stoke Volume. In at least 50% of patients there is no improvement in stroke volume and further treatment with fluid boluses will only likely cause harm. Marik goes on to argue that we must know where our patients are position on their Frank-Starling curve to predict whether they are fluid responsive and we can assess this with passive led raise.

Pretty much everything I learned as a resident in terms of the sequencing of airway management in ED has changed over the past 15 years. No longer is there simply RSI or stick a laryngoscope in with nothing and use pure brute force to intubate a patient; we have a host of different options and pathways when approaching airway management in the emergency department.   This lecture discusses some of these updated ways of getting from a sick patient requiring airway management to a tube between the cords…with only minor technical mishaps.

Daniel Kornhall's is an introduction to snow avalanche physiology and the realities of mountain rescue. Dying in an avalanche is an extremely rare cause of death but for us who live in mountain regions and who enjoy winter mountain sports it is a thing that needs to be dealt with. The overall mortality in avalanche incidents is roughly 20% but this increases to 50% in the buried victims, which is why my talk, and most avalanche medicine, focuses on the buried victims. Asphyxia causes the vast majority of deaths, accounting for roughly 80% with trauma in second place at 20%. Hypothermia as the primary cause of death in avalanche victims is extremely uncommon. Asphyxiation causes a dramatic plunge in survival from 80% down to 30% within the first half our of avalanche burial. This is why timely location and extrication of the victim is of vital importance. Kornhall explains why organised rescue service rarely, if ever, manage to get to the victim within this critical asphyxia phase. Survival rather depends on i