Stella Smith(Manchester) started the afternoon session with a recount of experiences during the Manchester bomb an year back. It was quite personal for me having been at work on that night at Salford Royal Hospital. I still remember the first patient we took to the CT scanner and the radiographer asking us to check if there is some metal object behind the patient's neck after the initial scanogram. Soon we realised the metal object was a bolt lodged in the cervical spinal cord of this lady. I still get an uncomfortable feeling deep in the heart when I think about that day. The key learning points from the talk were the need for dedicated trauma surgical training for surgeons, improving communication at all levels and the need for dedicated training at all levels. Unfortunately we live in a dangerous time as reminded by the bombs last week in Sri Lanka.
Peter Hulme(Manchester) gave an account of his personal experiences dealing with injured children after the Manchester bomb. It was a well balanced beautiful account of the various simple yet practical difficulties a paediatric emergency physician encounters when an incident of this sort happens.
Paul Russel(Salisbury) gave an excellent talk summarising various CBRN events around the world including the Novichok in Salisbury. I learnt that a Ram gene meter is used to monitor radiation. There was a brief mention of Bhopal gas tragedy which even today stands as the worst CBRN incident ever. The company responsible for the disaster conveniently avoided penalties by quietly closing down operations and selling the company to another company. He then went through the other incidents world wide from Sarin gas in Tokyo to Polonium in London. As emergency physicians we always are at risk of being the first to encounter a CBRN event. He rightly pointed out that the most dangerous agent will be the innocuous one with delayed onset of symptoms. I do not think there is enough regular training or education on this important aspect of emergency medicine.
Phil 'O' Connor(Belfast) gave a talk on his top 5 critical care papers. Use of high flow oxygen was the first paper and soon we should be seeing this used more in adult emergency medicine. Preoxygentation was the next topic followed by comparison of stylet and bougie for intubation. Then it was about generation of oxygen free radicals due to therapeutic use of oxygen. I do not think there is should be any department/hospital which should use oxygen without a clear prescription from the clinician as to its use.
Rob McSweeney(Belfast) continued where his colleague left off. This was a rapid fire round of critical care updates and he went through a trial every 30 seconds and it was difficult to keep up with the pace at which he was going. He went through the following- POLAR trial for prehospital cooling in traumatic brain injury, RESCUEicp for decompressive craniectomy followed by 20 other trials. I was lost after the first three and was glad that the day was over because my mind was already thinking about which pub and what drink to have that evening.
That was the end of day 2. Going to a conference is a bit like sitting in a classroom all day. I have not done that for a while and struggled to sit down for such prolonged periods of time. Anyhow soon it was drink'o'clock.
It was great to catch up with my brother at the conference.
That was the end of day 2. Going to a conference is a bit like sitting in a classroom all day. I have not done that for a while and struggled to sit down for such prolonged periods of time. Anyhow soon it was drink'o'clock.
It was great to catch up with my brother at the conference.
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