Breath Stacking: Ventilator Management

Identification and Management of Breath Stacking on the Ventilator
Joseph Esherick, M.D., FAAFP, FHM
More Articles – Featured, Hospital Procedures, Mechanical Ventilation
More Tags – Breath Stacking
Mechanical ventilation (MV) is necessary for sustaining life among patients experiencing respiratory failure, cardiopulmonary arrest, severe neuromuscular disorders, upper airway obstruction, and those with unprotected airways. While mechanical ventilation can save lives, reduce mortality and lower healthcare costs, breath stacking…
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Basic Emergency Procedures You Should Know

emergency procedures - small
Dr. Rick Rutherford, M.D., FAAFP
More Articles – Arterial line, Cardiovascular diseases, Central line, Chest Tube, Emergency Procedures, Endotracheal Intubation, Events, FAST Exam, Intraosseous line, King Tube, Laryngeal Mask Airway, Lumbar Puncture, Mechanical Ventilation, Medical General, medical procedures, Needle Decompression, Paracentesis, Procedural Sedation, RUSH Exam, Thoracentesis, Ultrasound-Guided Peripheral IV
More Tags – central line placement, chest tube placement, E-FAST, emergency medicine procedures, er procedures, featured procedure, HPC updates, intraosseous line placement, intubation, lumbar puncture, paracentesis, POCUS, RUSH Exams, thoracentesis, tube thoracostomy, Vascular access
Physicians, physician associates (PAs), and nurse practitioners (NPs) need to be adept in a range of essential medical emergency procedures that they must perform in an inpatient settings. These bedside procedures are accomplished readily, but only if you have the…
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Clinical Pearls for Airway Management of Morbidly Obese Patients

Joseph Esherick, M.D., FAAFP, FHM
More Articles – Central line, Chest Tube, Emergency Procedures, Endotracheal Intubation, Featured, Gastrointestinal diseases, Glidescope Intubation, King Tube, Laryngeal Mask Airway, Mechanical Ventilation, Medical General, medical procedures, Procedural Sedation, Respiratory diseases
More Tags – airway management, awake intubation, cricothyroidotomy, Difficult Intubation, featured, Glidescope intubation, ketamine, Ketofol, King tube airway, laryngeal mask airway, lorazepam, mechanical ventilation, midazolam, morbid obesity, paralytics, Propofol, video laryngoscopy
Morbidly obese patients can pose numerous challenges when it comes to airway management. Morbid obesity can make vascular access more difficult and you need good vascular access prior to any attempts at safe airway management. In addition, morbid obesity can…
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The Case for Simulation Based Training for Bedside Hospital Procedures

Dr. Rick Rutherford, M.D., FAAFP
More Articles – Cardiovascular diseases, Emergency Procedures, Endotracheal Intubation, Events, FAST Exam, Featured, King Tube, Laryngeal Mask Airway, Lumbar Puncture, Mechanical Ventilation, Medical General, medical procedures, Paracentesis, Thoracentesis
More Tags – E-FAST, featured, HPC updates, lumbar puncture, paracentesis, POCUS, RUSH Exams, Simulation Based Training; Central Line Training, simulation-based procedural training, thoracentesis, Vascular access
For decades the mantra for procedural education in medicine has been “see one-do one-teach one”.  Those of us who learned bedside procedures and point-of-care ultrasound by this model understand that this approach does not optimize safe and competent performance.   At…
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Maneuvers to Assess Fluid Responsiveness in Septic Shock or Vasodilatory Shock

Joseph Esherick, M.D., FAAFP, FHM
More Articles – Arterial line, Cardiovascular diseases, Central line, Emergency Procedures, Featured, Infections, Mechanical Ventilation, medical procedures
More Tags – Arterial Line, CVP, end-expiratory occlusion test, featured, passive leg raise, pulse pressure variability, sepsis, septic shock, shock, stroke volume variability, vasodilatory shock
Aggressive fluid administration is a hallmark of septic shock management and has been espoused by the Surviving Sepsis Campaign and is a part of the CMS SEP-1 sepsis bundle. The sepsis bundle includes administration of 30 ml/kg crystalloid bolus (LR…
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Dexmedetomidine and Propofol performed equally well for the sedation of mechanically ventilated patients with sepsis

Medical Professional Using Tablet in Mechanical Ventilation Course
Joseph Esherick, M.D., FAAFP, FHM
More Articles – Featured, Mechanical Ventilation, Medical General, medical procedures, Respiratory diseases
More Tags – ABCDEF bundle, CAM -ICU, Delirium, dexmedetomidine, featured, HPC updates, mechanical ventilation, Propofol, RASS, ventilator, ventilator sedation
The Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM) recommends that all mechanically ventilated patients receive analgesia, sedation, and delirium assessment and management while intubated. SCCM reinforced these principles in their 2018 clinical practice guideline on the prevention and management of pain,…
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Protocolized Sedation is Recommended Over Usual Care for Mechanical Ventilation

Joseph Esherick, M.D., FAAFP, FHM
More Articles – Featured Procedure, Mechanical Ventilation, Medical General, medical procedures, Respiratory diseases
More Tags – Delirium, featured procedure, HPC updates, mechanical ventilation, Protocolized Sedation, Sedation, Wake-up and Breath Protocol
A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials was conducted to determine the effects of protocolized sedation in mechanically ventilated adult intensive care unit patients. Six randomized controlled trials and 1243 patients were studied. The results showed that protocolized…
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Simulation Based Training Improves Airway Management Skills

https://hospitalprocedures.org/endotracheal-intubation-course/
Joseph Esherick, M.D., FAAFP, FHM
More Articles – Cardiovascular diseases, Central line, Endotracheal Intubation, Featured Procedure, Gastrointestinal diseases, Glidescope Intubation, King Tube, Laryngeal Mask Airway, Lumbar Puncture, Mechanical Ventilation, Medical General, medical procedures, Paracentesis, Respiratory diseases, Thoracentesis
More Tags – airway management, central lines, endotracheal intubation, Glidescope intubation, King tube, laryngeal mask airway, lumbar puncture, paracentesis, thoracentesis
Simulation-based procedural training has been shown to improve procedural competence, safety, operator confidence and most importantly patient safety for every bedside procedure studied.  Now, a new systematic review and meta-analysis confirms that simulation-based training in airway management improves procedural competence…
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Tips for Management and Bedside Procedures in Critically Ill Patients with COVID Pneumonia

Joseph Esherick, M.D., FAAFP, FHM
More Articles – Arterial line, Cardiovascular diseases, Central line, Emergency Procedures, Endotracheal Intubation, Featured, Gastrointestinal diseases, Glidescope Intubation, Mechanical Ventilation, Medical General, medical procedures, Procedural Sedation, Respiratory diseases
More Tags – Arterial line insertion, asystole, cardiac arrest, Central line insertion, COVID pneumonia, CPR, featured, Glidescope intubation, HPC updates, intubation, mechanical ventilation, PEA, push dose pressors, video laryngoscopy
The SARS-COV-2 pandemic started in January 2020 and has decimated the majority of U.S. hospitals for the past 18 months. The impact of COVID-19 has not only affected available hospital beds, but has limited the ability of hospitals to perform…
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Airway Management in COVID-positive Patients

Joseph Esherick, M.D., FAAFP, FHM
More Articles – Arterial line, Central line, Chest Tube, Endotracheal Intubation, Featured Procedure, Glidescope Intubation, King Tube, Laryngeal Mask Airway, Mechanical Ventilation, medical procedures, Respiratory diseases
More Tags – airway management, COVID, featured procedure, HPC updates, intubation
A number of additional factors must be considered with airway management in COVID-positive patients. Hospital Procedures Consultants (HPC) can provide simulation-based training to prepare providers for airway management in COVID-positive patients. The first essential consideration is to place the patient into a…
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Summary of Difficult Airway Management in COVID-19 Patients

Joseph Esherick, M.D., FAAFP, FHM
More Articles – Emergency Procedures, Endotracheal Intubation, Featured, Glidescope Intubation, King Tube, Laryngeal Mask Airway, Mechanical Ventilation
More Tags – awake intubation, COVID-19, difficult airway management, Difficult Intubation, endotracheal intubation, featured, HPC updates, intubation, video laryngoscopy
The Society of Airway Management recently issued guidelines for Difficult Airway Management in COVID-19 patients.  The SARS CoV-2 (COVID-19) virus is extremely contagious via respiratory droplets and therefore extra precautions are needed for airway management in severe COVID-19 infection.  Airway…
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Alternative Tests to Differentiate Pleural Effusion Exudates from Transudates

Joseph Esherick, M.D., FAAFP, FHM
More Articles – Featured Procedure, Mechanical Ventilation, medical procedures, Thoracentesis
More Tags – featured procedure, HPC updates, Pleural cholesterol, pleural effusion, pleural exudate, pleural transudate
How to Differentiate Pleural Effusion Exudates from Transudates   Historically, Light’s criteria have been used to classify pleural effusions into transudates or exudates.  Light’s criteria were established by Dr. Richard Light in 1972.[1]  These criteria maximize sensitivity but have a…
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Summary of New Difficult Airway Society Awake Intubation Guidelines

Joseph Esherick, M.D., FAAFP, FHM
More Articles – Endotracheal Intubation, Featured, Glidescope Intubation, King Tube, Mechanical Ventilation, medical procedures, Respiratory diseases
More Tags – awake intubation, difficult airway management, featured, HPC updates, intubation, video laryngoscopy
The Difficult Airway Society (DAS) has recently published new guidelines for awake tracheal intubation (ATI) in adults.  When performed correctly, ATI has a favorable safety profile for patients with an anticipated difficult airway.  The guidelines cover the indications for ATI,…
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Predictors of and Pearls for Difficult Airway Management

Joseph Esherick, M.D., FAAFP, FHM
More Articles – Endotracheal Intubation, Featured, King Tube, Laryngeal Mask Airway, Mechanical Ventilation, Medical General, medical procedures, Respiratory diseases
More Tags – cricothyroidotomy, difficult airway management, endotracheal intubation, featured, HPC updates, intubation, King tube, laryngeal mask airway, supraglottic airway, surgical airway
Patients may have anatomically difficult airways or physiologically difficult airways.  Both anatomical and physiological factors can lead to peri-intubation complications.  My goal for this blog is to describe the factors that may contribute to an anatomically difficult airway and clinical…
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Remember the Laryngeal Mask Airway When You Can’t Intubate!

Joseph Esherick, M.D., FAAFP, FHM
More Articles – Endotracheal Intubation, Featured Procedure, Glidescope Intubation, King Tube, Laryngeal Mask Airway, Mechanical Ventilation, medical procedures, Respiratory diseases
More Tags – featured procedure, HPC updates, intermediate airways, laryngeal mask airway
Remember the Laryngeal Mask Airway When You Can’t Intubate! As a hospitalist who also works in the ICU, I am often the first responder to respiratory emergencies.  Frequently under these circumstances, you have a chaotic environment and a less than…
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