Critical Care

Advocacy and bedside care came together on the final morning of SMACC 2019. This report explores violence prevention, climate change and emergency care in Malawi, alongside debates about resuscitation, intubation and the balance between ultrasound technology and clinicians’ skills.

Supporting people affected by violence and abuse was a central theme of SMACC 2019’s first afternoon. This report also considers clinicians’ emotional responses, conversations that offer support, and the role of creativity in healthcare and education.

SMACC 2019 opened with patient stories, grief and compassionate communication before moving into bedside critical care. This report covers obstetric emergencies, echocardiography and prehospital trauma debates, showing how the Sydney meeting connected technical decisions with the people receiving care.

Kat Evans shares her perspective on emergency medicine in South Africa in this recording from St Emlyn’s Live 2018. The post offers video and audio versions of her presentation, with links to badEM and related accounts of working and learning in South African emergency departments.

Simon Carley brings together ten trauma papers and resources for the 2019 TraumaUK conference. The selection spans prehospital plasma, airway management, resuscitation, head injury, emergency laparotomy and paediatric splenic injury, ending with the Zero Point Survey and preparation before resuscitation begins.

Should ventilation continue between induction and laryngoscopy during rapid sequence intubation? This 2019 appraisal examines a randomised trial in critically ill adults, weighing oxygen desaturation and aspiration outcomes against differences in technique, preoxygenation and the applicability of ICU findings to emergency departments.