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Paucis Verbis: Delayed sequence intubation

Bipap

A 40-year-old man presents with significant agitation and severe respiratory distress from a COPD exacerbation. His oxygen saturation is 75% on room air, and he has diffuse, tight wheezes on exam. You prepare to intubate the patient using a rapid sequence induction protocol: etomidate, succinylcholine, 8-0 endotracheal tube.

Or do you?

This pocket card discusses the delayed sequence intubation (DSI) protocol made famous by Dr. Scott Weingart and Dr. Rich Levitan.1 Thanks to Dr. Michelle Reina (EM resident at Univ of Utah) and Dr. Rob (Intermountain Medical Center in Utah) for designing this helpful card. Rob has even implemented a DSI protocol in his ED.

The card breaks down the reasoning and steps behind DSI. Anecdotally, ketamine has often calmed patients down enough during the preoxygenation phase to enhance oxygenation/ventilation so much so that intubation is not required.

PV Card: Delayed Sequence Intubation (DSI)


Go to ALiEM (PV) Cards for more resources.

Reference

  1. Weingart S, Levitan R. Preoxygenation and prevention of desaturation during emergency airway management. Ann Emerg Med. 2012;59(3):165-75.e1. [PubMed]
By |2022-04-05T15:07:58-07:00Aug 31, 2012|ALiEM Cards, Critical Care/ Resus|
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Paucis Verbis: CHF likelihood ratios

senior with oxygen maskA 50 y/o man with a history of CHF and COPD is brought in by ambulance in severe respiratory distress. He is sitting upright with a RR 30 and O2 saturation of 79% on room air. Is this a CHF or COPD exacerbation? This is a common dilemma faced in the ED. Fortunately there are likelihood ratios to help you risk stratify using a Fagan nomogram.

Note that there are 3 tables:

  1. All-comer Emergency Department (ED) patients1
  2. ED patients WITH a known history of asthma or COPD2
  3. Summative LRs for BNP are provided in ED patients with or without a history of asthma/COPD1

See the blue font for the likelihood ratios ≥ 3.0.

PV Card: Does Your Dyspneic Patient Have CHF?


Adapted from [1, 2]
Go to ALiEM (PV) Cards for more resources.

 

References

  1. Wang C, FitzGerald J, Schulzer M, Mak E, Ayas N. Does this dyspneic patient in the emergency department have congestive heart failure? JAMA. 2005;294(15):1944-1956. [PubMed]
  2. McCullough P, Hollander J, Nowak R, et al. Uncovering heart failure in patients with a history of pulmonary disease: rationale for the early use of B-type natriuretic peptide in the emergency department. Acad Emerg Med. 2003;10(3):198-204. [PubMed]
By |2021-10-10T08:40:49-07:00Aug 24, 2012|ALiEM Cards, Cardiovascular|
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Paucis Verbis: Does this adult patient need blood cultures?

Blood Cultures Bottle

Do you order blood cultures for all your ED patients with a fever? Obviously no. What’s your decision making process on ordering this test? There are really no findings or tests with high specificity (rules-IN bacteremia), except interestingly “shaking chills”. Notice almost all the criteria listed below approach a likelihood ratio (LR) of 1.0. Two prediction rules do exist, however, to help you virtually rule-OUT bacteremia:

  • SIRS
  • Shapiro prediction rule

The list of LRs also will be helpful to show learners in the ED that an isolated serum WBC number is useless risk-stratifier.

Patient Case

A 55 y/o man with a PMH of hypertension presents with a community-acquired pneumonia on CXR, no fevers, no chills, no vomiting.

  • Temperature 37.8 C, BP 160/90, HR 100, RR 16, Sat 100% RA
  • Serum WBC 20K (no bands)
  • Platelets 300K
  • Creatinine 1.1 mg/dL

What is the patient’s pre-test and post-test probability for having bacteremia? Use these helpful stats from the Rational Clinical Examination series from JAMA.

PV Card: Blood Cultures for Suspected Bacteremia


Adapted from [1]
Go to ALiEM (PV) Cards for more resources.

Answer to patient case

  • Start with 7% pretest probability for bacteremia with a community acquired pneumonia.
  • Using the clinical prediction rules, the WBC 20K and HR 100 bpm are criteria for SIRS but do not fulfill the Shapiro prediction criteria. LR = 1.8 * 0.08 = 0.144. Post-test probability for bacteremia = 0.06%.
  • If the patient had instead a normal HR of 80 bpm, both the SIRS and Shapiro criteria would have been negative. LR = 0.09 * 0.08 = 0.0072. Post-test probability for bacteremia = << 0.1%.

This discussion doesn’t address WHETHER we should get blood cultures despite a risk for bacteremia in the setting of uncomplicated pneumonia receiving IV antibiotics or pyelonephritis with a pending urine culture.

References

  1. Coburn B, Morris A, Tomlinson G, Detsky A. Does this adult patient with suspected bacteremia require blood cultures? JAMA. 2012;308(5):502-511. [PubMed]
  2. Shapiro N, Wolfe R, Wright S, Moore R, Bates D. Who needs a blood culture? A prospectively derived and validated prediction rule. J Emerg Med. 2008;35(3):255-264. [PubMed]
By |2021-10-10T08:43:50-07:00Aug 17, 2012|ALiEM Cards, Infectious Disease|
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