Resuscitation Rules

This pocket guide supplies key resuscitation facts in an easily read format to serve as an aide-memoire to anyone working in emergency situations. Each key statement is presented as an easy to remember rule. Each rule is explained and supported by relevant current references and any exceptions are identified. Line drawings are used to illustrate key educational points. This book proves that learning can be fun!

Contributors.

Foreword.

Preface.

BASIC LIFE SUPPORT.

1. Confidence Does Not Imply Competence.

2. You Can’t Start a Blue Heart.

3. If the Face is Blue, The Heart is Too.

4. An Airway is What You do to the Head, Not What You Put in the Mouth.

5. It is Better to Deliver 17% Oxygen to the Lungs, Than 100% to the Back of the Throat.

6. Suction is Not Catheterisation by the Oral Route.

7. Gasping is Not Breathing.

8. Two Hands are Better Than One.

9. Only a Fool Breaks the BLS Rule.

ADVANCED CARDIAC LIFE SUPPORT.

10. Bring the Equipment to the Patient, Not the Patient to the Equipment.

11. The Laryngoscope is an Oxygen Deprivation Device.

12. Save the Day With an LMA.

13. If You Can Put It In, You Can Pull It Out.

14. Oxygen is Free - Don’t Make Your Patient Work For It.

15. You Are In Deep Waters When the Oxygen Runs Out.

16. Treat the Patient, Not the Monitor.

17. Paddles in, People Out - Paddles Out, Paddles in.

18. Pray When You Defibrillate.

19. An AED in Your Hands is Worth Two Manuals in a Rush.

20. When It’s Going Down the Tubes Think of Your NAVAL.

21. There is No Drug That Will Convert VF to Sinus Rhythm.

22. Think of the Causes to Begin and Treat Them If You Want to Win.

23. Adenosine, Shut That Door!.

24. A Positive Pericardiocentesis Only Indicates There is a Clot at Both Ends of the Needle.

25. Ease Off the Base or You’ll Pump Up the Acid.

26. There is No Value in the Emergency Transportation of a Corpse.

27. Resuscitation is Not Resurrection.

28. Do Not Resuscitate to Bed Availability.

29. Every Shroud Has a Silver Lining.

MEDICAL EMERGENCIES.

30. Almost Anything Can Be Done at the Scene, but This Does Not Mean That It Should.

31. A Stethoscope is No More Than a Badge of Office.

32. Can’t Talk, Can’t Breathe.

33. Beware the Asthmatic with a Normal pCO2.

34. The Pulse Oximeter Measures Oxygenation, Not Ventilation.

35. In a Ventilation Crisis, to Cope Remember DOPE.

36. The Patient Who Refuses Oxygen is Often Hypoxic.

37. When the GCS is Eight, Proceed Not to Intubate.

38. If You Cannot Decompress a Tension, Think Laterally and Go Laterally.

39. Head Injuries Cause Fits and Fits Cause Head Injuries.

40. Alcohol is Not a Cause of Unconsciousness.

41. Pupils, Pin-Pricks, Pulses.

42. Organophosphate Poisoning Produces Excess SLUDGE.

43. Pale and Sweaty with Wheeze, Think Cardiac Disease.

44. Minutes equals Myocardium.

45. Not Pot No T.

46. Do Not Be Shocked When the IM Route Fails.

47. Avoid Colloid in the Critically Ill: Reach for the Ringer’s.

48. CT and LP Have No Place in MD.

PAEDIATRIC RESUSCITATION.

49. Babies Are Born With An Integral Pillow.

50. Pff-Pff-Pff-Help-Help-Help.

51. The Stomach Will Fill With Air at the Expense of the Lungs.

52. Compression is One Third of the Chest Diameter, Irrespective of Age.

53. CRT 2 is Good For You.

54. You Can Get Vascular Access If You Want It Badly Enough.

55. IO it to Him to Get the Drugs In.

56. All Sick Children are Hypoglycaemic.

57. To Get the Dose of Adrenaline (Epinephrine), Work out the Weight and Divide By Ten.

58. Penicillin V Halves Mortality.

59. Parents are Part of the Resuscitation Team.

60. Do Not Resuscitate the Date of Birth.

Index.

Timothy J. Hodgetts is the author of Resuscitation Rules, published by Wiley. Nicholas Castle is the author of Resuscitation Rules, published by Wiley.