2020 put emergency medical services (EMS) at the forefront of just about everyone’s minds. Neighbors erected banners celebrating emergency medical technicians (EMTs) and doctors, as healthcare workers saw enormous early death tolls in the wake of the pandemic. COVID continues to rip through communities and will figure prominently in the industry through at least the first half of 2021. 

In October of 2012, superstorm Sandy hit New York City with a vengeance. As area hospitals braced for the storm’s impact, administrators had no reason to fear their back-up generators would fail to function if the city’s power grid went down.

They were wrong.

Suctioning has long been a mainstay of both emergency and routine medical care, but in 2020, it truly came into its own. On a given team, there might have been one or two suctioning experts. But in the wake of the pandemic, every member of every team needed to become a skilled, compassionate expert at suctioning patients. 

The COVID-19 crisis has radically shifted much about how we live, with reverberations that will continue well after the pandemic ends. Dentistry practices are vital to health and well-being. Here’s how dental suctioning has changed due to COVID-19. 

Emerging evidence suggests that bariatric patients are at a higher risk of developing severe COVID illness. This means they may represent a disproportionate share of your patients during the pandemic. If you’re suctioning a bariatric patient, here are six complexities to consider. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the importance of being able to treat patients quickly and competently wherever you find them. With makeshift intensive care units and emergency departments erected in tents across the country, medical providers have had to make do with limited resources and treat patients as efficiently as possible without accelerating the spread of a deadly pandemic. 

You understand how important it is to have a well-organized and fully stocked crash cart when a patient codes. Following Advanced Cardiac Life Support Guidelines (ACLS), most hospitals will have similar supplies on their carts. These include:

Every nurse knows durable medical equipment doesn’t last forever.

When was the last time you kicked a hospital bed in frustration because the motor ground to a halt as you were elevating a patient’s head? Or you discovered an IV pump apparently quit working in the middle of the night, depriving your patient of vital hydration?

When equipment like a portable medical suction machine unexpectedly stops working, it can be more than a nuisance. It can endanger patient safety. If you reach for a suction wand because your patient aspirated, and you discover there’s no suction...there may be a bad outcome in the wings.

In 2014, Health Facilities Management magazine featured an article discussing the results of their Emergency Management Survey. A random sample of 911 hospital and health system executives were polled to learn about challenges faced during emergency situations such as natural disasters.