Management of penetrating chest trauma in the context of major trauma networks.

Major trauma networks reduce mortality in critically injured patients. Trauma patients should be appropriately triaged straight from the scene of injury, avoiding secondary transfer from a trauma unit. Selection criteria in regionally agreed triage tools are designed to identify which patients should be taken directly to the major trauma centre. Patients with life-threatening injuries still arrive at 'trauma units' in circumstances such as self-presentation, under triage, physiological instability or long journey time to the major trauma centre. This article presents a theoretical case of a haemodynamically unstable patient with penetrating injuries, and discusses the management of chest trauma, including diagnosis of life-threatening injuries, resuscitation strategies and definitive surgical management. Secondary transfer to the major trauma centre should be considered after instituting the minimal life-saving interventions. What constitutes a life-saving intervention requires an individual dynamic risk assessment and an understanding of major trauma networks.

Medical training in acute specialties: the acute care common stem training pathway.

In 2007, the acute care common stem pathway changed the delivery of acute specialty training. Acute care common stem is the core training programme for all emergency medicine trainees, 46% of anaesthetic trainees and a cohort of acute medicine trainees with more than 630 places nationally, the third highest of any core training programme. In their first 2 years of core training (CT1-2), trainees rotate through 6-month rotations in emergency medicine, acute medicine, anaesthetics and intensive care to gain core competencies in the assessment and management of acutely unwell patients, before completing 1 year (CT3) in their parent specialty. Acute care common stem trainees benefit from undertaking rotations in allied acute specialties, which is invaluable when treating complex and comorbid patients in an ageing population. Acute care common stem gives trainees core skills in management of acutely unwell patients, which can be built upon in higher specialty training.

A retrospective analysis of inpatient cardiac arrests over one year at a tertiary heart attack and cardiothoracic centre identifying potential candidates for an inpatient extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation service.

INTRODUCTION: Extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (ECPR) is an internationally recognised treatment for refractory cardiac arrest, with evidence of improved outcomes in selected patient groups from cohort studies and case series. In order to establish the clinical need for an in-hospital extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation service at a tertiary cardiac centre, we analysed the inpatient cardiac arrest database for the previous 12 months. METHODS: Evidence-based inclusion criteria were used to retrospectively identify the number of patients potentially eligible for extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation over a 12-month period. RESULTS: A total of 261 inpatient cardiac arrests were analysed with 21 potential extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation candidates meeting the inclusion criteria (1.75 patients per month, or 8% of inpatient cardiac arrests (21/261)). The majority (71%) of these cardiac arrests occurred outside of normal working hours. Survival-to-discharge within this sub-group with conventional cardiopulmonary resuscitation was 19% (4/21). CONCLUSION: Sufficient numbers of refractory inpatient cardiac arrests occur to justify an extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation service, but a 24-h on-site extracorporeal membrane oxygenation team presents a significant financial and logistical challenge.