EMCrit Podcast 5 – Intubating the Critical GI Bleeder

06/22/09 • 12 min

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We've had a few gruesome airways in patients with GI bleeds and bellies full of coffee ground emesis. This is a top 10 list encompassing my approach to this difficult situation: 1. Empty the Stomach Place a salem sump and suck out all of the stomach contents. Varices are not a contraindication (see: Digest Dis 1973;18(12):1032, Gastrointest Endosc. 2004 Feb;59(2):172-8, and Anesth Analg 1988;67:283) Administer Metoclopramide 10 mg IVSS 2. Intubate the Patient with HOB at 45° Semi-Fowler's position will keep the gastric contents from moving up the esophagus 3. Preoxygenate like mad You do not want to bag these patients, give yourself a preox cushion 4. Intubation Meds Use a sedative that is BP stable, use reduced doses. These patients NEED paralytics. You need to optimize first pass success. Paralytic agents actually increase the lower esophageal sphincter tone (Br J Anaesth 1984;56:37). 5. Gather your equipment to optimize first pass Use fiberoptic laryngoscopy if you have it (e.g. Glidescope) At the bedside, have a bougie, an LMA, a meconium aspirator (more below), and 2 suction set-ups Wear eye protection! 6. If you need to bag after a failed attempt... Bag gently and slowly (10 times a minute) Consider placing an LMA if you need to bag. 7. If the patient vomits: Trendelenberg This potentially keeps the emesis out of the lungs 8. Meconium Aspirator If the normal suction is too slow, attach the meconium aspirator to your ET tube. See this post on a novel ETT suction set-up for the full description. 9. No ABX for Aspiration Aspiration in the initial phases is a chemical pneumonitis, not a bacterial pneumonia See Marik's article (NEJM 2001;344(9):665) 10. SIRS Expect a sepsis-like syndrome from the aspiration. This folks may need pressors and tons of additional fluid

Previous Episode

Podcast 3 – Laryngoscope as a Murder Weapon (LAMW) Series – Ventilatory Kills – Intubating the patient with Severe Metabolic Acidosis

This lecture is part of the Laryngoscope as a Murder Weapon Series: Hemodynamic Kills Oxygenation Kills Ventilatory Kills Sorry about the voice--blame the swine flu. Case Thanks to Joe Chiang Severe DKA; Obtunded with pH 6.65, PaCO2 18, Bicarb 5 Pt’s mental status is worsening The decision is made to intubate Should you give NaBicarb? Probably won’t help as patient is already breathing at their maximum. Unless they blow off the Bicarb-generated CO2, they won’t increase their pH significantly. What you need Properly fitted NIV mask Ventilator, not a NIV machine Someone who knows how to work the vent Normal intubation stuff If available, Quantitative ETCO2 Procedure Place pt on pseudo-NIV Settings are Mode Volume SIMV Vt 550 ml FiO2 100% Flow Rate 30 lpm PSV 5-15 PEEP 5 RR 0 Attach ETCO2 and observe value Push the RSI Meds Turn the Resp Rate to 12 Perform jaw thrust Wait 45 seconds This violates the tenets of RSI, but keeping the pt alive is probably more crucial right now. Most experienced operator should intubate the patient Attach the ventilator Confirm tube placement by observing ETCO2 Immediately increase Respiratory Rate to 30 Change Vt to 8 cc/kg predicted IBW Change Flow Rate to 60 lpm, this si the normal setting for intubated patients (forgot to mention this in the audio) Why 30 BPM? Listen to the podcast. Make sure ETCO2 is at least as low as it was when you started Check ABG Pat yourself on the back PreVent to prevent Death (coined by Sara Crager) Now on to the Podcast...

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EMCrit Podcast 6 – Push-Dose Pressors

Note: Please listen to the PDP update episode either before or immediately after listening to this one Finally a non-intubation topic! Bolus dose pressors and inotropes have been used by the anesthesiologists for decades, but they have not penetrated into standard emergency medicine practice. I don’t know why. They are the perfect solution to short-lived hypotension, e.g. post-intubation or during sedation. They also can act as a bridge to drip pressors while they are being mixed or while a central line is being placed. Click Here for printable sheet with mixing instructions Epinephrine Do not give cardiac arrest doses (1 mg) to patients with a pulse Has alpha and beta-1/2 effects so it is an inopressor Onset-1 minute Duration-5-10 minutes Mixing Instructions: Take a 10 ml syringe with 9 ml of normal saline Into this syringe, draw up 1 ml of epinephrine from the cardiac amp (amp contains Epinephrine 100 mcg/ml) Now you have 10 mls of Epinephrine 10 mcg/ml Dose: 0.5-2 ml every 1-5 minutes (5-20 mcg) No extravasation worries! Mixing Video: Phenylephrine Phenyl as a bolus dose is clean, quick, and never causes trouble. But... It is pure alpha, so no intrinsic inotropy; it may increase coronary perfusion which can improve cardiac output. I only use this in tachycardic patients (and even then, only sometimes) Onset-1 minute Duration- 5-10 minutes (usually 5) Mixing Instructions: Take a syringe and draw up 1 ml of phenylephrine from the vial (vial concentration must be 10 mg/ml) Inject this into a 100 ml bag of NS Now you have 100 mls of phenylephrine 100 mcg/ml Draw up some into a syringe; each ml in the syringe is 100 mcg Dose: 0.5-2 ml every 1-5 minutes (50-200 mcg) No extravasation worries! Mixing Video: Ephedrine I don’t use this one, listen to the podcast to hear why. I put it here solely for the anesthesiologists on the blog. Onset-Near Instant Duration-1 hour Mixing Instructions: Take a 10 ml syringe with 9 ml of normal saline Into this syringe, draw up 1 ml of ephedrine from the vial (vial contains Ephedrine 50 mg/ml) Now you have 10 mls of Ephedrine 5 mg/ml Dose: 1-2 ml every 2-5 minutes (5-10 mg) No extravasation worries! Additional Video of a Real Patient By Larry Mellick's Crew Update: This study compares push-dose phenylephrine to continuous infusion--no difference between the two (Anesthesia Analgesia 21012;115(6):1343) First article in the ED demonstrates efficacy on blood pressure (The Journal of Emergency Medicine Volume 49, Issue 4, October 2015, Pages 488–494) Here is a review article from the nursing literature Now on to the Podcast...