We are frequently asked to check the lactate on Venous Blood Gases (VBG’s), by the nursing staff. However, remember to look at the first result (pH) it is the most important.
Acidosis: Unless you have a good reason (e.g. you know its due to DKA) you should be investigating and performing an Arterial Blood Gas (ABG)
A selection of patient, relative, and general resources designed to assist those presenting with self injury, and those who care for them.
Domestic abuse can affect anyone and often its not readily disclosed on an ED admission. We must be alert to the fact some of our patients may be attending with domestic abuse. Please explore concerns and escalate if you’re unsure. Our colleagues in the Pennine Domestic Violence Group have kindly drawn this a guidance up for us.
Getting some of the rarer antidotes has recently been clarified across Yorkshire (Accessing rarely used antidotes-SOP)
In our trust we don’t have paediatric critical care beds. However, in our region we use EMBRACE (a paediatric critical care transport team), who can transfer critically ill children to specialist centers (in or out of region).
Approx. 50% of over 65’s and most of those with catheters have asymptomatic bacteriuria. The patient will not benefit from treatment and often gives us premature closure (i.e. we blame a fictitious UTI for the patients symptoms and stop thinking). Read more
Neck of fifth Metacarpal (Boxer’s) fractures are a common injury, and how we treat them locally is changing.
RCPCH have released a GREAT series of podcasts on paediatric sepsis. It is from a paediatric slant, but is applicable to the ED and well worth a listen [For Docs and Nurses]
