Critical Care

Pete Hulme reports from Tactical Trauma 2019 in Sweden, bringing together lessons from prehospital teams, police and emergency services. The review explores bystander response, haemorrhage control, triage and team leadership when trauma care takes place in difficult environments.

A review of the CRASH-3 trial and whether tranexamic acid (TXA) is of benefit in traumatic brain injury patients.

The final day of RCEM’s 2019 scientific conference brought together cardiac arrest research, medical education and clinicians’ working lives. This report covers AIRWAYS-2 and PARAMEDIC-2, podcasting, proposed curriculum changes and research into fatigue and the need for recovery.

Simon Carley reports from the European Resuscitation Council meeting in Slovenia in 2019. Alongside reflections on early recognition, CPR and defibrillation, the post includes a conference podcast and discussion of the continuing debate over temperature management after cardiac arrest.

Day two of RCEM’s 2019 scientific conference ranged from frailty and palliative care to research, leadership and working patterns. The St Emlyn’s team reports on clinical learning alongside practical discussions about annualised rotas, supportive handovers and sustainable emergency medicine careers.

Simon Carley selects papers from 2018–2019 for his RCEM conference talk, explaining why they might influence emergency medicine practice. Topics include paediatric seizures, cardiac arrest and pulmonary embolism in pregnancy, with links to fuller appraisals of the studies.