Hypothermia and stroke update

Separate discussions of course. These were presented at the Elderly Care departmental meeting in Truro.

Nice update on hypothermia and its management. Disappointed that when I went to search Osborne waves on the internet the 12 lead ECG library's discussion of the 1953 paper was not listed in the search engines. Hmm. There is more competition for ECGs online these days ... or maybe it is that other websites have more useful information. Asked a question at the meeting about bicarbonate and survival and probably sounded as though I was alive when Osborne's original paper was published. Wonder what JJ Osborne's first names were? Never did find out when I researched it earlier.

There was an interesting aspect to the presentation. It was decided to present the case because there was some uncertainty on behalf of the trainee and of the admissions staff as to what the best treatment is for hypothermia. There were no guidelines available but by using up-to-date, which is available within the Trust, they could get quite rapid access to information. It would be good to try and distil that information for a readily available and localised treatment plan for us within the admissions unit. This would be especially useful for this type of unusual condition that does not lend itself to evidence-based practice (as most publications are presumably case reports or consensus views) and is associated with a high mortality.

There was also an update on the 5th UK Stroke Forum that took place in Glasgow. Good discussion on thrombolysis and acute neurosurgery.

Students debate case reports ...

... and conclude they'd like to write some.

Just wrote a blog entry about the recent Warwick Medical School Journal Club conference at the weekend.

Case Reports in the era of Evidence-Based Medicine