A 32-year-old female presents after being bucked off of her horse. She is brought in as a trauma team activation because of a low BP. Her primary survey will reveal a boggy hematoma over her right temporal area as well as an unstable pelvis. Her initial GCS will be 8. The team will proceed through airway management in a hypotensive, head-injured trauma patient while also binding her pelvis. The patient eventually shows signs of brain herniation, which the team will need to manage prior to consultant arrival.
Tag: massive transfusion
Obstetrical Trauma
A 33 year old G2P1 female at 32 weeks GA presents with blunt trauma following an MVC. She will be hypotensive due to both hypovolemic shock from a pelvic fracture and obstructive shock from a tension pneumothorax. Fetal monitoring will show the fetus in distress with tachycardia and late decelerations. Early airway intervention should be employed, with thoughtful selection of drugs for sedation and paralysis given the pregnancy. After intubation, the patient will remain hypotensive. She will require massive transfusion and coordination of care between orthopedics, general surgery, and obstetrics. The patient’s husband will also arrive after intubation and the team must give him the bad news.
Ruptured Ectopic
26 year-old female, recently immigrated from Cambodia, presents after a syncopal episode at home. At the case outset, she complains of feeling “a little dizzy” and has a HR of 100 and a BP of 90/60. Once the team initiates care, the patient will say she has to vomit and then become poorly responsive and more hypotensive. The patient does not know that she is pregnant, so the team will have to consider the diagnosis early and use bedside U/S to point them in the right direction. The team will then need to initiate a massive transfusion and arrange for surgery. If the ectopic pregnancy is not recognized, the patient will become persistently more hypotensive until she has a PEA arrest.
Two Patient Trauma
A young male and a middle-aged female are brought to the ED after a T-bone MVC at an unknown speed. Both patients were drivers. The emergency team is expected to triage the patients accordingly and to split the team so that both patients are treated.
Massive Upper GI Bleed
A 58-year-old male known for alcoholism presents to the emergency department with an active, massive upper GI bleed due to esophageal varices. The patient deteriorates into hypovolemic shock requiring medical management, massive transfusion, intubation for airway protection, and insertion of a Blakemore tube.
