Hemoptysis

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Hemoptysis

What is it?  Bleeding below the cords

More specifically, it may be subdivided into Massive and Non-Massive hemoptysis.  And while the definitions of massive vary from paper to paper, it is generally agreed that increasing volume over 24 hours is associated with increased mortality.  However, the literature consistently concludes that patients and providers are poor, at best, at estimating volume.  Thus, the simplest and most effective definition for massive hemoptysis is as such: expectoration of blood causing hemodynamic instability or abnormal gas exchange / airway obstruction.

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Prehospital Care, An International Perspective

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Prehospital Care, An International Perspective

The State of Affairs

     The morbidity and mortality of trauma on a global perspective is humbling.  Aside from HIV/AIDS and TB, trauma is the chief cause of mortality for 15 to 45 years of age (based on 2002 WHO data).  5.8 million deaths annually.  5.2 million of those deaths, or 90%, occur in low-and-middle-income countries (LMIC’s).  Prehospital care in LMIC’s varies immensely.  Total prehospital time, the training level of prehospital providers, transportation method, and access to emergency medical systems (EMS) are some of the better described aspects of prehospital care in LMIC’s.  The attributes of the prehospital health care delivery system differ significantly on a country by country basis.

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Ebola

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Ebola

Ebola.  Synonymous with Terror, Class A Bioterrorism Agent Extraordinaire.  The Republic of Guinea and surrounding countries are in the midst of the deadliest, most widespread outbreak ever.  Death totals are rising every day, and each new death is a new record that with any luck will never be eclipsed.  

To quote the man that discovered and named Ebola after a river in the Congolese jungle,

“Soap, gloves, isolating patients, not reusing needles and quarantining the contacts of the ill - in theory it should be very easy to contain Ebola”

        - Peter Piot

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