California Good Samaritan Law and ALS?

[usalsfyre]

I do believe that there will be a change in civilian EMS guideline and scope soon, just like TQ or hemostatic agents we saw in the past decade.

Where is the need? The number of tension pneumo's is low in civilian populations anyway, and I'd be willing to bet it's minuscule in the non-intubated/ventilated civilian population. Seriously I've seen one in 13 years of just about every type of EMS you can think of. They're not even that common in shootings, as you have an open hole in the chest.

I seem to recall tension pneumo's on the battlefield are mainly due to blast injuries...not something we encounter a lot of.

 

[mycrofft]

WIKI citation:

AND I QUOTE:

" In a minority of cases, the amount of air in the chest increases markedly when a one-way valve is formed by an area of damaged tissue, leading to a tension pneumothorax."

Exhalation is more powerful than inhalation everything else being unchanged, so any penetrating chest injury causing a non-cavernous communication to the air could cause some degree of tension pneumothorax. I bet they start developing a haemo-pneuomothorax faster, though, so the "tension" part gets overlooked.

There are people with lung pathology, whether it's blebs or disease, who spontaneously go pneumo.

 

[TheLocalMedic]

Where is the need? The number of tension pneumo's is low in civilian populations anyway, and I'd be willing to bet it's minuscule in the non-intubated/ventilated civilian population.

I second that notion. I've only had one patient with a true tension pneumo, and that was in a motorcycle vs car collision. Needle decompression is likely the least used skill besides needle crics in our inventory.

If you want to carry a kit with you on an outing, go simple and carry bandaging supplies and some OTC meds.

 

[Akulahawk]

I second that notion. I've only had one patient with a true tension pneumo, and that was in a motorcycle vs car collision. Needle decompression is likely the least used skill besides needle crics in our inventory.

If you want to carry a kit with you on an outing, go simple and carry bandaging supplies and some OTC meds.

I've seen a Tension Pneumo once also... motorcycle vs bus. Patient needed a chest tube (or two), lots of bright lights/cold steel, and a whole lot more miracle than could be found... I'm amazed he survived as long as he did, which wasn't long, actually - only about 45 minutes post injury.