The COVID-19 pandemic has taught many lessons. Perhaps one of the most important is that versatile equipment saves lives. Battery-operated portable emergency suction machines empower you to tend to patients wherever you find them—in their homes, in the emergency department, even in the parking lot. 

A tracheostomy can save a patient’s life, improve their quality of life, and help them live more independently. Yet this vital medical device also increases the risk of certain infections, especially pneumonia. 

Have you ever been in a code situation where there were multiple failed intubation attempts on a patient? If so, you aren’t likely to forget it. Managing a difficult airway is one of the most challenging circumstances for even the most seasoned medical professional. 

In a matter of weeks, the COVID-19 pandemic transformed from a hypothetical concern to something that upended lives across the globe. First responders were suddenly risking their lives to tend to patients. Families across the nation holed up in their houses, hoping to save lives. The world may never be the same. Unsurprisingly, airway management has shifted quite a bit in the intervening months, too. Here are some of the changes we’re seeing. 

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.