Decadron vs. Solu-Medrol

[emtbill]

Hi all,

I'm a new ALS provider and in my program steroids were given very little if any attention, as they are not given in the area I took the class in. I've searched these forums, pubmed and google, and frankly I can't find any reliable information regarding the differences between commonly carried steroids in EMS. My service currently carries both Solu-Medrol and Decadron, and my protocols state that the two may be given interchangeably. Verbatim from the Dyspnea and Anaphylaxis pages: "Decadron 10 mg IV or Solumedrol 125 mg IV". There are no stipulations placed on which drug to give when. Do any of you have experience with making the decision of which drug to give? I understand why steroids are beneficial in respiratory distress, but I am unsure why I have both of these steroids at my disposal. Any thoughts?

Thanks in advanced.

 

[emtjack02]

I do not have a lot of experience with choosing one or the other but I can tell you how I see them used.
Decadron: airway edema (croup, edema d/t airway manipulation), spinal cord problems, increased ICP
Solu-Medrol: typically those exacerbated asthma/COPD or mod-severe pneumonia
It looks like solu medrol is listed in Rosens Emergency Med as steriod for anaphylaxis and also has dosing for spinal cord problems.
That's my 2cents good luck. Sounds like you have a wide scope out there in virgina

 

[ksEMTbabe]

I work full time for one service and part time for another - at my full time, we only carry Solu-Medrol, and carry both Decadron and Solu-Medrol at my part time. When both are available, the Decadron is used almost exclusively for head injuries and the Solu-Medrol for everything else, including spinal injury/trauma, asthma, COPD and other general respiratory distress. Decadron isn't even in out protocol for anything other than head injury.