Findings from a tandem clinician leadership intervention for emergency department cardiac arrest care during the COVID-19 pandemic.

INTRODUCTION: Cardiopulmonary arrest (CPA) care in the Emergency Department (ED) has had to be modified during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Scarce literature exists on comfort of clinicians (defined as physicians, nurses & advanced practice providers-APP's) in these new roles and their perceived understanding of new algorithms. METHODS: Routine CPA care in our ED was modified during the COVID-19 pandemic. This involved clinicians in shared leadership roles alongside COVID-19 specific changes to CPA algorithms. The new protocol was operationalized through a two-step educational intervention involving didactic education and in-situ simulations. Univariate analyses using student's t-test assessed effectiveness of this educational intervention with clinician comfort as team leaders and perceived knowledge as primary outcomes on a scale of 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Subgroup analysis across physicians (attending & resident), nurses & APP's were also undertaken with an alpha of 0.05, and p values <0.05 were considered statistically significant. Secondary outcomes of task saturation, procedural safety and error prevention were also analyzed. RESULTS: Across 83 of 95 total participants, our primary outcome of clinician comfort in the team leader role improved from a mean value of 3.41 (SD: 1.23) pre-intervention to 4.11 (SD: 0.88) with a p-value <0.001 post intervention. Similar and statistically significant findings in clinician comfort were noted across all subgroups except attending physicians and APP's. Perceived knowledge increased from a mean value of 3.54 (SD: 1.06) pre-intervention to a mean value of 4.24 (SD: 0.67) with a p-value <0.001 post intervention. Similar and statistically significant findings in perceived knowledge were noted across all subgroups except APP's. Responses were registered in either the strongly agree or agree category with regards to task saturation (89%), procedural safety (93%) and error prevention (71%) across all clinicians post intervention. CONCLUSION: Our pilot investigation of the effectiveness of an educational intervention of a novel CPA protocol in the ED during the COVID-19 pandemic reached statistical significance with regards to clinician comfort in shared leadership roles and perceived knowledge. These findings suggest that the protocol is rapidly teachable, usable and can be efficiently disseminated across ED clinicians of varying experience, especially in pandemic settings. Further work regarding effectiveness of this new protocol in real life cardiac arrest scenarios is warranted.

Influence of Critical Care Transport Ventilator Management on Intensive Care Unit Care.

OBJECTIVE: High tidal volume ventilation is associated with ventilator-induced lung injury. Early introduction of lung protective ventilation improves patient outcomes. This study describes ventilator management during critical care transport and the association between transport ventilator settings and ventilator settings in the intensive care unit (ICU). METHODS: This was a retrospective review of mechanically ventilated adult patients transported to an academic medical center via a critical care transport program between January 2018 and April 2019. Ventilator settings during transport were compared with the initial and 6- and 12-hour postadmission ventilator settings. RESULTS: Three hundred eighty patients were identified; 114 (30%) received tidal volumes > 8 mL/kg predicted body weight at the time of transfer. The transport handoff tidal volume strongly correlated with the ICU tidal volume (Pearson r = 0.7). Patients receiving high tidal volumes during transport were more likely to receive high tidal volumes initially upon transfer (relative risk [RR] = 4.6; 95% confidence interval [CI], 3.3-6.5) and at 6 and 12 hours after admission (RR = 2.6; 95% CI, 1.8-3.8 and RR = 2.7; 95% CI, 1.7-4.3, respectively). CONCLUSION: Exposure to high tidal volumes during transport is associated with high tidal volume ventilation in the ICU, even up to 12 hours after admission. This study identifies opportunities for improving patient care through the application of lung protective ventilation strategies during transport.

The emergency department evaluation and management of massive hemoptysis.

INTRODUCTION: Massive hemoptysis is a life-threatening emergency that requires rapid evaluation and management. Recognition of this deadly condition, knowledge of the initial resuscitation and diagnostic evaluation, and communication with consultants capable of definitive management are key to successful treatment. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this narrative review is to provide an evidence-based review on the management of massive hemoptysis for the emergency clinician. DISCUSSION: Rapid diagnosis and management of life-threatening hemoptysis is key to patient survival. The majority of cases arise from the bronchial arterial system, which is under systemic blood pressure. Initial management includes patient and airway stabilization, reversal of coagulopathy, and identification of the source of bleeding using computed tomography angiogram. Bronchial artery embolization with interventional radiology has become the mainstay of treatment; however, unstable patients may require advanced bronchoscopic procedures to treat or temporize while additional information and treatment can be directed at the underlying pathology. CONCLUSION: Massive hemoptysis is a life-threatening condition that emergency clinicians must be prepared to manage. Emergency clinicians should focus their management on immediate resuscitation, airway preservation often including intubation and isolation of the non-bleeding lung, and coordination of definitive management with available consultants including interventional radiology, interventional pulmonology, and thoracic surgery.

Ventilator-associated pneumonia and intubation location in adults with traumatic injuries: Systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is an important cause of morbidity and mortality among critically ill patients, particularly those who present with traumatic injuries. This review aims to determine whether patients with traumatic injuries who are intubated in the prehospital setting are at higher risk of developing VAP compared with those intubated in the hospital. METHODS: A systematic review of Medline, Scopus, and Cochrane electronic databases was conducted from inception to January 2021. Inclusion criteria were patients with traumatic injuries who were intubated in the prehospital or hospital settings with VAP as an outcome. Using a random-effects model, the risk of VAP across study arms was compared by calculating a summary relative risk with 95% confidence intervals. The results of individual studies were also summarized qualitatively. RESULTS: The search identified 754 articles of which 6 studies (N = 2,990) met the inclusion criteria. All studies were good quality based on assessment with the Newcastle Ottawa scale. Prehospital intubation demonstrated an increased risk of VAP development in two of the six studies. Among the six studies, the overall quality weighted risk ratio was 1.09 (95% confidence interval, 0.90-1.31). CONCLUSION: Traumatically injured patients who are intubated in the prehospital setting have a similar risk of developing VAP compared with those that are intubated in the hospital setting. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Systematic review and meta-analysis; Level IV.