Fast-Track 9: Emergency and Critical Care; Challenges of 24/7 Hyperbaric Unit

Course overview

Learner Objectives: As a result of having attended the meeting, the participants should have had the opportunity to: Understand what programs are treating hyperbaric emergencies; Understand the limitations of treating a high acuity patient within the hyperbaric environment; The main reasons for 24/7 chambers disappearing; Ways we can encourage new 24/7 programs; Requirements for 24/7 critical care capable HBO programs; Provide a perspective for an inpatient HBO unit; Provide details of acuity of cases and special considerations prior to treatment; How to better coordinate referral for appropriate patients to higher acuity care settings; Understand critical care equipment, which can be safely used in a hyperbaric environment; Be familiar with compromised grafts/flaps and the rationale for why we should be using these in the field; Be familiar with crush injury and acute traumatic ischemia’s; Review clinical cases regarding crush/traumatic skin flaps and compromised flaps/grafts; Understand the differences between managing a critical care patient in the hyperbaric environment vs sea level treatment of these patients; To fully realize the declining number of chambers available for diving emergencies; Understand the factors that may be influencing this trend; List measures that may positively affect this trend. Subject Matter: Access to Emergent Hyperbaric Therapy in the Unites States; Emergency and Critical Care Hyperbaric Medicine: A Lost Art; Treating the Acute Surgical and Trauma Patient; Challenges of an Academic 24/7 Hyperbaric Oxygen Unit (HBO) Without a Wound Center; Decreasing Emergency Hyperbaric Chamber Availability: A growing risk to diver health. Teaching Methods: Online video of speakers lecture with PPT slides embedded; Exam questions for each lecture; Evaluation of program. Evaluation Methods: Evaluation is offered online after completion of the activity, which evaluates the effectiveness of the meeting, that no bias was presented, individual faculty and overall objectives were met. References: Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine Journal, Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society, North Palm Beach, Florida. National Fire Protection Association 99, Health Care Facilities; 2015. www.nfpa.org. UHMS Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Indications, Thirteenth Edition, Dr. Lindell Weaver, April 2014 (http://www.bestpub.com/books/hyperbaric-a-undersea-medicine/product/359-ebook-hyperbaric-oxygen-therapy-indications-thirteenth-edition.html)