management

Cranial nerves: part 1

The articles in this series, which can be torn out for use in practice, are intended to support clinician development and to assist in the overall assessment of patient presentations. The information...

Clinical exam: an introduction

The articles are intended to support clinician development and to assist in the overall assessment of patient presentations. The information should be used to support consideration of differential...

Non-invasive ventilation as a prehospital intervention for acute COPD exacerbation

The clinical forms of COPD are chronic bronchitis and emphysema, although guidelines discourage differentiation between the two forms when making a diagnosis (NICE, 2010). Chronic bronchitis is...

Clinical suspicion regarding needle decompression for patients with chest trauma

Needle decompression of the chest (also known as thoracocentesis or thoracentesis) is a manoeuvre to release abnormal air from the pleural space. Prehospital needle decompression is only indicated for...

Prehospital emergency anaesthesia: time taken to care for and respond to a critically injured patient

One of the first questions raised when researching PHEA is: what is it best referred to as? The SOP produced by Pinnell and Pountney (2015), followed by the ambulance trust, is so titled, but refers...

Managing common end-of-life cancer presentations according to the evidence

For people with cancer who are terminally ill, an unexpected hospital attendance can be distressing and tiresome. Such visits made close to the end of life can be considered an indicator for poor...

Fascia iliaca compartment block: a short how-to guide

FICB is a simple technique, and allows a high quality of analgesia to be given without the side effects of opiate analgesia. FICB is the current gold standard in the management of neck of femur...

Does digoxin cause more harm than good?

Digoxin has a very narrow therapeutic margin between toxicity and efficacy, which results in a high incidence of digoxin toxicity (Larsen, 2009). To avoid toxicity, digoxin dosage must be adjusted...

Acute traumatic coagulopathy: the lethal triad of trauma

The prehospital clinician is often the first to manage a patient with a reduced temperature as a result of loss in circulatory volume caused by trauma so has an important early role in the management...

Splinting of injuries: best practice guidance

A splint is a device that is used to support an injury that has caused a body part (normally an extremity) and the associated joints not to function in a normal manner; it achieves this by...

Tourniquets in the treatment of prehospital haemorrhage

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Hyperventilation syndrome: diagnosis and reassurance

The term hyperventilation syndrome (HVS) was first mentioned in 1938 by Kerr et al who attributed their patients' tetany to hyperventilation associated with anxiety. Since then, the term has been...