Hugh spent the morning catching up with the machines that go "Ping!" in the Gold Coast Hospital Emergency Department. As my duties in Beijing will go beyond being a family GP, to sometimes playing a role in emergency care, I was keen to refresh my knowledge, attitudes and practice.
I am very grateful to Geoff Copland ( dep med sup) and to David Green ( ED senior doctor) who arranged for emergency specialists Don Campbell and Michael Aitken to allow me to follow them around learning and observing. I was impressed with the kindness to patients and the quiet competence and cooperation among the staff from consultants to ambulance crews.
The RACS has sent reading material in preparation for the EMST (early management of severe trauma) course in Lismore in late June, and I had been reading about FAST scans. Don (and an obliging patient in the observation ward) taught me how an ultrasound can help quickly diagnose internal bleeding quickly. He recommended doing an ultrasound course (weeklong for $2000), run by Sue Davies, at the Australian Institute of Ultrasound. http://www.aiu.edu.au/
There were great tools I had only heard about - BiPAP - where we saw a 98 year old with acute pulmonary oedema just improving before our eyes as she wore a computer controlled pressure face mask that synchronised with her breathing to force the fluid out of her lungs. An hour later she was comfortable and out of danger. And the Glidescope - where the laryngoscope blade has a tiny camera so you perform endotracheal intubation watching a small TV screen.
Leo Maneros, one of the staff specialists, has developed a brilliant site for emergency doctors - http://www.emergencyweb.net
Another great site commonly used is the clinical guidelines section of Royal Childrens Hospital website at http://rch.org.au
It was a great morning. A really intellectually stimulating place to work.
