The rapid worldwide spread of the novel coronavirus has compelled many seemingly impossible choices: Hospital administrators have had to choose between forcing people to die alone and potentially spreading the virus to others; labor and delivery units must now weigh separating birthing people from their partners or risking transmitting the virus to others, including vulnerable infants. Perhaps one of the most challenging conundrums during this pandemic has been managing the simple realities of CPR. 

The American Heart Association (AHA) recently changed its CPR guidelines to respond to this emerging crisis. Here’s what you need to know.

Overweight or obese patients can present suctioning difficulties. Because most American adults are overweight or obese, medical providers must train in the treatment of bariatric patients. These patients are highly susceptible to airway difficulties, particularly during surgery. The following strategies can help you effectively suction bariatric patients, even when they present with difficult airways.

The COVID-19 crisis has fundamentally shifted the emergency medicine landscape. Providers are exhausted, afraid, and overwhelmed by an increasingly taxed health system. Patients’ lives hang in the balance, and research shows that they’re just as afraid. Fear of the novel coronavirus is now keeping patients with emergency symptoms away from the emergency room. 

Every piece of equipment your agency buys is an investment in both the long-term growth and viability of your company and the health of the people you serve. This latter piece of the puzzle can be difficult to quantify. After all, it’s hard to assign a value to saving and improving lives, greater effectiveness among your employees, and in many cases, reduced workplace stress and trauma. Yet every agency must operate under budget constraints, acting as good stewards of whatever budget they have. So how much should you invest in portable suction machines? As with most expenditures, there’s no single figure or percentage that will apply to every organization. Here are some factors to weigh when making your purchase.

Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) accounts for 60 percent of healthcare-associated infection (HAI) deaths. According to 2015 research from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), VAP accounts for 32 percent of all healthcare-related pneumonia cases. People on ventilators are often medically fragile, battling serious respiratory illnesses or chronic medical conditions. So the death rate for this form of pneumonia is extraordinarily high—between 20 and 33 percent, according to most estimates. Healthcare providers can take a number of proactive steps to protect their patients from this potentially lethal infection. 

A terrible flu season, the looming specter of a coronavirus outbreak, and the daily realities of localized infections all highlight the need for rigorous infection control. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issues annual infection control guidelines to reduce the risk of spreading potentially dangerous or even lethal illnesses. Many of these guidelines are common sense, and echo the things you learned in childhood about washing your hands and covering your cough. A friendly reminder of these guidelines may encourage you and your team to redouble your infection prevention strategies, especially because doing so requires little additional effort. 

Sooner or later, almost every medical provider sees a patient who needs nasal suctioning. This mainstay of emergency medicine saves lives, shortens hospital stays, and reduces medical complications. If you work in EMS, you may suction patients daily. For other providers, suctioning is a rarity. No matter where you work, a basic familiarity with the procedures for nasal suctioning is critical to quality patient care. 

COVID-19, the novel coronavirus with apparent origins in Wuhan, China, has overtaken the world of emergency medicine. It’s so new that doctors can’t confidently assert much about it, except that it is highly contagious and potentially lethal. Its specific lethality, however, remains hotly contested—and difficult to prove, given low testing rates and the relatively high prevalence of asymptomatic carriers. You probably already know the basics. Here are five things you must understand to protect yourself and the people you serve. 

Car accidents are the leading cause of blunt chest trauma. More than 6 million car accidents occur each year in the United States, injuring at least 3 million drivers. Violence is also a common culprit, especially when guns are involved. First responders will inevitably encounter many forms of chest trauma. A comprehensive patient assessment can help you prioritize treatment goals and stabilize patients for transport. However, knowing the most common injuries associated with blunt chest trauma can expedite the assessment and improve treatment outcomes.