Cookbook medicine...
Quote:
Originally Posted by bw1776
So wait til a pt is decompensating...that's the answer everybody gives I get it. If thats the only way you know when to burp it, that's fine but I don't like the idea of my pt to start circling the drain every time before I'm able to help him...
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So you are looking to treat an algorithm instead of the patient? There is not a magic time standard that can be used to determine when someone may/may not have developed a tension pneumo. That is determined according to MOI and symptoms/signs the patient presents with.
Have you tried basing your treatment off respiratory effort and sufficiency instead of looking for an easy answer? SAO2 and ETCO2 measurements? Comparative decrease in rise/fall of the chest? Patient complaint of increased respiratory difficulty, cant catch breath? I could go on... It shouldn't take the patient presenting with JVD or mediastinal shift (very late signs) for you to know there is an issue/the patient is having difficulty.
What more do you need?
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Last edited by Surgicalcric; 11-30-2014 at 18:53.
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