This is EMKases, EM Quick Hits podcast.

Quick, let's get on with it.

EM cases is part of Shremi, the Schwartz-Riseman Emergency Medicine Institute.

That's the nonprofit organization dedicated

to improving EM care through high-quality research and education. The opinions expressed on this podcast are intended for general information and educational purposes only and should not be used to diagnose treat or prevent any medical condition, nor should they be used as a substitute for medical advice from a qualified practicing physician. Unless stated otherwise, the opinions expressed by the hosts or guests are made in their individual capacity, not on behalf of the institute nor medicine cases.

First up, we have Swami on a topic that's usually covered by Andrew Petrosonic, trauma,

of course.

Thank you, Petro, for being cool with Swami doing some trauma stuff.

He's going to run through five quick tips and tricks to make your trauma management a bit smoother.

During a recent shift I worked, we had maybe a dozen trauma activations for everything from

stab wounds to MVCs to gunshot wounds to falls.

We had a fantastic trauma team on that night, as well as an amazing set of EM residents

and faculty, and we were really put to the test in managing all of these

patients. During the course of the night, there were a ton of little tips, tricks, and pitfalls

that came up, and I thought I could share those with everybody else. When managing multiple trauma

patients with multiple injuries, your team can be spread pretty thin, and every second is important.

Wasted time is the enemy.

One of our patients had a left chest gunshot wound, lost vitals and needed a thoracotomy.

Our trauma team started the left-sided thoracotomy and asked us to place a right-sided chest

tube. No big deal. We do this all the time. And I find that putting the tube in isn't the

difficult or time-consuming

part. It's actually securing the chest tube that takes more time, especially if your hands

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