PODCAST: EM Quick Hits 45 ETCO2 in Cardiac Arrest, Organ Donation, Paraphimosis, Medicolegal Myths, QI Corner

פוסט זה זמין גם ב: עברית

“This learning material is sourced from Emergency Medicine Cases [with link to emergencymedicinecases.com] and has been published here with permission as per creative commons copyright”

Topics in this EM Quick Hits podcast

Anand Swaminathan on continuous quantitative end-tidal CO2 monitoring in cardiac arrest (2:30)

Tahara Bhate in QI Corner – sorting out the the dizzy patient (10:00)

Andrew Healey on organ donation do’s and don’ts (20:00)

Sarah Foohey on foodcourt hacks – paraphimosis, rectal prolapse, food bolus obstruction (28:10)

Jennifer C. Tang on 4 medicolegal myths (35:55)

Podcast production, editing and sound design by Anton Helman, January 2023

Podcast content, written summary & blog post by Anton Helman and Sarah Foohey, January 2023

Cite this podcast as: Helman, A. Swaminathan, Bhate, T. Healey, A. Foohey, S. Tang, JC. EM Quick Hits 45 – ETC

O2, Organ Donation, Paraphimosis, Medicolegal Myths, QI Corner. Emergency Medicine Cases. January, 2023. https://emergencymedicinecases.com/em-quick-hits-january-2023/Accessed February 7, 2023.

Value of continuous waveform quantitative end-tidal CO2 monitoring in cardiac arrest

  • A sudden decrease or loss of ETCO2 may indicated the need for CPR to be started
  • ETCO2 is an indirect assessment of quality of chest compressions (location, rate, depth); adequate chest compressions correlate with ETCO2 pressures of ≥20mmHg.
  • A rise of ETCO2 >20mmHg is highly specific for ROSC in patients with PEA arrest; on average, patients with ROSC after CPR had an average ETCO2 level of 25 mmHg in one meta-analysis
  • An up-trending ETCO2 during resuscitation suggests continuing resuscitative efforts unless there is overwhelming clinical evidence to the contrary
  • Confirmation of airway placement and subsequent guide for adequate delivery of breaths using BVM or supraglottic device and ventilation rates for ETT with more immediate feedback than oxygen saturation monitoring
  • A general “rule” is that if the ETCO2 is consistently <10mmHg for 3-5 minutes after 20 minutes of high quality CPR and resuscitative efforts, ROSC is unlikely to be achieved; however this is not a sensitive test and should be used only as an adjunctive data point in decisions of termination of resuscitation efforts
  • There are multiple potential confounders that can elevate or decrease ETCO2 levels (see chart below), so extreme or trending values may be more useful than unwavering mid-range levels
  • A sudden flattening of the ETCO2 waveform may be due to cardiac arrest, ventilator disconnection, esophageal intubation, capnography obstruction or dislodged airway device

Factors Affecting EtCO2

ETCO2 factors

Source: EMSWorld

QI Corner – Dizziness, vertigo, pre-syncope and pulmonary embolism

  • Recognize the margin of error in asking patients to categorize their dizziness as vertigo or presyncope and consider employing a timing and triggers-based assessment to help avoid discarding half the differential diagnosis prematurely
  • Stay alert to the possibility of pulmonary embolism in patients with COPD and pre-syncope or syncope even though studies have over-estimated the prevalence of PE in such populations
  • Make an effort to track down EMS ECG strips in patients with pre-syncope or syncope, and consider working with your hospital and EMS to develop a system that archives EMS ECGs

השארת תגובה

חייבים להתחבר כדי להגיב.

גלילה לראש העמוד
Open chat
Scan the code
האיגוד הישראלי לרפואהה דחופה
שלום, קשר ישיר עם ההנהלת האתר איך אפשר לעזור?

Direct contact with the website management
How can we help?
דילוג לתוכן