BLS Support / Daily Scenario / #2 MVC

[VFlutter]

and they're interventions with a solid and proven track record of success when applied both in the field and hospital.

I don't have the numbers but I do think there was a fairly high complication rate. In traumatic arrest it doesn't really matter but in peri-arrest it gets kind of tricky. You think there is a tamponade, go for it, then end up perforating the ventricle or causing iatrogenic tamponade when there wasn't one to being with then it's hard to justify unless you are sure they would have arrested otherwise. Complication rates are much lower with ultrasound guidance.

 

[VentMonkey]

Both FP-C course instructors I sat in with said they had each done maybe one in their careers--respectively--none of which, IIRC, had a stellar outcome discharge-wise.

It is pretty much a last ditch effort in the field with, or without U/S. I was taught how to do one in a cadaver lab without U/S guidance within a matter of minutes; hardly a realistic scenario.

The "skill" itself is not all that hard, it is the ramifications of such a skill that one needs to be prepared to deal with. Again, this is what separates the clinician from the technician.

 

[RocketMedic]

I don't have the numbers but I do think there was a fairly high complication rate. In traumatic arrest it doesn't really matter but in peri-arrest it gets kind of tricky. You think there is a tamponade, go for it, then end up perforating the ventricle or causing iatrogenic tamponade when there wasn't one to being with then it's hard to justify unless you are sure they would have arrested otherwise. Complication rates are much lower with ultrasound guidance.

Oh, if it's going to be done, I think it should be well-trained and US-guided. I do think it is good to have in the toolbox though.