Trauma Anesthesia

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doctor712

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Hi All,

Quick question, as far as practicing Trauma Anesthesia for the most part, are the vast majority of these jobs in academic centers? In other words, what I'm curious about is, can you be in private practice and still staff a Level 1 Trauma Center? I imagine most Trauma Centers, like Ryder down here, are affiliated with a large teaching hospital/school, but I wonder if it's the norm elsewhere to outsource to pp groups?

Numero Dos, is Anesthesia then CCM fellowship the pathway to take if you want to be "the trauma guy?" Or could you in theory do Anesthesia/Peds and be the "kid trauma guy?"

Thanks!
D712
 
D712,

Trauma anesthesia exist both in PP and academics. Most PP groups wouldn't loose a lot of sleep if they were not the trauma group in town. It changes the dynamics of call if you are a busy level one center.

As for "trauma" anesthesia.... Well, you absolutely DO NOT need a year of CCM to do trauma. You only need a good residency that is associated with a trauma hospital.

Jackson would fit the bill for sure....
 
D712,

Trauma anesthesia exist both in PP and academics. Most PP groups wouldn't loose a lot of sleep if they were not the trauma group in town. It changes the dynamics of call if you are a busy level one center.

As for "trauma" anesthesia.... Well, you absolutely DO NOT need a year of CCM to do trauma. You only need a good residency that is associated with a trauma hospital.

Jackson would fit the bill for sure....

👍
There are places trying to sell trauma "fellowships" as well. That's just another name for slave labor.
Rank programs at level 1 trauma centers and you'll do more trauma than you could ever want. If you want to do peds trauma, just make sure your peds fellowship is at a busy level 1 trauma center. I'm at one now, and we don't get much trauma. So if trauma was your thing, you'd probably be better off somewhere else.
 
Cool, thanks for the replies.

D712
 
D712,

As for "trauma" anesthesia.... Well, you absolutely DO NOT need a year of CCM to do trauma. You only need a good residency that is associated with a trauma hospital.

Or do a deployment in Ass-crackistan. That works as well.

by the way, trauma anesthesia is a misnomer. There is very little 'anesthesia' in trauma. Mostly it is - give blood and give more blood, and do it fast.

You don't need a fellowship for that.
 
👍
There are places trying to sell trauma "fellowships" as well. That's just another name for slave labor.
Rank programs at level 1 trauma centers and you'll do more trauma than you could ever want. If you want to do peds trauma, just make sure your peds fellowship is at a busy level 1 trauma center. I'm at one now, and we don't get much trauma. So if trauma was your thing, you'd probably be better off somewhere else.

Are you in SoCal Il? I see LA Children's is looking for peoples.
 
Hi All,

Quick question, as far as practicing Trauma Anesthesia for the most part, are the vast majority of these jobs in academic centers? In other words, what I'm curious about is, can you be in private practice and still staff a Level 1 Trauma Center? I imagine most Trauma Centers, like Ryder down here, are affiliated with a large teaching hospital/school, but I wonder if it's the norm elsewhere to outsource to pp groups?

Numero Dos, is Anesthesia then CCM fellowship the pathway to take if you want to be "the trauma guy?" Or could you in theory do Anesthesia/Peds and be the "kid trauma guy?"

Thanks!
D712

Dude.

You are branding

TRAUMA ANESTHESIA

like you need a degree in

ASTROPHYSICS

to make it happen.

I feel ya.....anyone hears the word

TRAUMA

most freak out.


Dude, such a

DICHOTOMY!

The dichotomy being TRAUMA ANESTHESIA sounds so bold, so important, so complex, and yet from a pragmatic standpoint

TRAUMA CARE IS SIMPLE:

1)ABC
2)"Ok, dudes breathing, let's get a cuppla 16 gauges in the MO FO while we complete the

SECONDARY SURVEY


Foley, labs, call for blood products

COMING TO THE OPERATING ROOM FOR A GANGSTA INDISCRETION?

1) PUT DUDE TO SLEEP
2) Maintain ISOVOLEMIA, and clotting....IV fluids, Hespan, blood, ffp, etc
3) Keep'em WARM to prevent coagulopathy
 
I work at a very trauma-heavy institution.
And its not particularly difficult in my opinion.
Healthy males in the twenties s/p GSW
= RSI, two big IVs and A-line +/- central line and some PRBCs poss FFP or platelets. Normothermia and check labs.
Game over. Liver transplant ect are much more complex.
And trauma itself is become more and more non-operative management w/ IR.
Probably only 1/4 of the trauma codes i get get OR management and maybe 1/20 are brought up emergently.



Dude.

You are branding

TRAUMA ANESTHESIA

like you need a degree in

ASTROPHYSICS

to make it happen.

I feel ya.....anyone hears the word

TRAUMA

most freak out.


Dude, such a

DICHOTOMY!

The dichotomy being TRAUMA ANESTHESIA sounds so bold, so important, so complex, and yet from a pragmatic standpoint

TRAUMA CARE IS SIMPLE:

1)ABC
2)"Ok, dudes breathing, let's get a cuppla 16 gauges in the MO FO while we complete the

SECONDARY SURVEY


Foley, labs, call for blood products

COMING TO THE OPERATING ROOM FOR A GANGSTA INDISCRETION?

1) PUT DUDE TO SLEEP
2) Maintain ISOVOLEMIA, and clotting....IV fluids, Hespan, blood, ffp, etc
3) Keep'em WARM to prevent coagulopathy
 
D712,

Trauma anesthesia exist both in PP and academics. Most PP groups wouldn't loose a lot of sleep if they were not the trauma group in town. It changes the dynamics of call if you are a busy level one center.

As for "trauma" anesthesia.... Well, you absolutely DO NOT need a year of CCM to do trauma. You only need a good residency that is associated with a trauma hospital.

Jackson would fit the bill for sure....

I ranked a program very high because of their trauma experience, looking at it now- I dont see the big deal......
 
by the way, trauma anesthesia is a misnomer. There is very little 'anesthesia' in trauma. Mostly it is - give blood and give more blood, and do it fast.

You don't need a fellowship for that.

+1

Seriously.

The physiology of trauma? The tank is empty.
The pathophysiology of trauma? The tank is frickin empty.
The anesthetic implications? Fill the tank, and don't give a bunch of stuff that makes a semi-full tank act like it's empty.
 
+1

Seriously.

The physiology of trauma? The tank is empty.
The pathophysiology of trauma? The tank is frickin empty.
The anesthetic implications? Fill the tank, and don't give a bunch of stuff that makes a semi-full tank act like it's empty.

This is hilarious. I think the underlying pathophysiology of trauma (the inflammatory cascade) could hold a lot of academic interest, but I agree with the others that this probably doesn't play much of a role in clinical practice. I do, however, think a lot of fun could be had doing these kinds of cases. You probably see a lot of fun stuff and have the potential to see a lot of patients get better (well, until the chronic disease of trauma recrudesces).
 
There are some great caes that come thorugh the trauma bay.

Cracking the chest open to do cardiac massage... in the trauma bay...

2, 3 and 6 mo. old siblings. All 3 coming in with cardio/respiratory arrest 2/2 carbon monoxide poisoning...

GSW to the head, to OR, brain edema so bad a fronto-parietal lobotomy is undertaken...

MVC with transected trachea and extensive cranio-facial-airway trauma...

Aystolic patient in drowning accident with temp of 8 degrees Celsius....

MVC with type A aortic dissection blows his aortic valve > circ arrest.

3 y/o amish kid that put his hand in to a meat grinder... arm chewed up all the way past the elbow...

etc.. etc.. etc....

These are just a few I remember off the top of my head.

Trauma experience is good...

You do enough of them during residency. You don't need a fellowship and become free labor to fill someone else's pocket.

:meanie:
 
Cracking the chest open to do cardiac massage... in the trauma bay...

:meanie:

I always thought this was an academic exersize - or just something to appear heroic - I don't think I had ever seen it actually do something.

However....

Yesterday in the pain clinic we were doing pulsed radiofrequency to a guy's sciatic nerves for his bilateral phantom limb pain - and I was asking about his trauma experience....he had stepped on a pressure plate IED - and he proceeded to tell me how he had died several times (I was thinking...yeah, i've heard that before), THEN he shows me the huge scar across his chest and told me how they had to grab his heart directly and squeeze it to keep him alive. WTF?! The guy is sharp as a tack as well.

I was impressed - changed my thought on the whole 'crack the chest' mentality.
 
My best trauma case actually happened while I was a fellow.

GSW to the chest.

Patient was hemodynamically stable and was evaluated at our trauma center and spent the night in the ICU before he was transferred to the big house for definitive cardiac repair.

Bullet went through the left atrium and into the aorta where it ran out of kinetic energy and blood flow took over. Bullet was found in the femoral artery.

Dude had a wide open fistula between the aorta and the left atrium with minimal pericardial fluid/ extravasation. Cool echo.



As for as the original question. I do a fair amount of trauma in PP. Mostly motor vehicle (Motorcycle/ ATV/ Boat etc), falls, GSW etc with the major difference from my training being the number of motor vehicle vs large animal (horse, cow, etc) accidents I get here. Thankfully I have a great group of surgeons here which leads to the other major difference... We don't take dead people to the OR here like we did in residency.

I will echo what the others have said about trauma anesthesia... pretty straight forward. The vast majority of trauma happens to a very narrow demographic of young, relatively healthy individuals and it is pretty dichotomous... either the trauma is bad enough that they die immediately or they come pretty stable and need just a little amnestic and lots of fluid. It gets a little more interesting at the extremes of age, but once again they either die immediately or they just need judicious anesthesia with a little less fluid replacement.

The only reason to do a trauma fellowship IMHO is if you are interested in the administration of a large trauma system (especially the pre-hospital portion) and find a place that will give you experience with it. Harborview would be great for this if the anesthesiologists had a larger role within the overall trauma management system. Between Airlift Northwest, Medic One, and Harborview ER there are some interesting challenges. However, it is all run by the surgeons and the anesthesiologists play a minor role so you would not likely get the experience that you are looking for there.

- pod
 
There are some great caes that come thorugh the trauma bay.

Cracking the chest open to do cardiac massage... in the trauma bay...

2, 3 and 6 mo. old siblings. All 3 coming in with cardio/respiratory arrest 2/2 carbon monoxide poisoning...

GSW to the head, to OR, brain edema so bad a fronto-parietal lobotomy is undertaken...

MVC with transected trachea and extensive cranio-facial-airway trauma...

Aystolic patient in drowning accident with temp of 8 degrees Celsius....

MVC with type A aortic dissection blows his aortic valve > circ arrest.

3 y/o amish kid that put his hand in to a meat grinder... arm chewed up all the way past the elbow...

etc.. etc.. etc....

These are just a few I remember off the top of my head.

Trauma experience is good...

You do enough of them during residency. You don't need a fellowship and become free labor to fill someone else's pocket.

:meanie:

yeah

BUT I MEAN

its all JUST

PROP/SUX/TUBE

tank em up

PRESSURE UP GAS UP PRESSURE DOWN GAS DOWN

make sure and save time for the crossword

this way youll be a rokkstar

🙄
 
Dude had a wide open fistula between the aorta and the left atrium with minimal pericardial fluid/ extravasation. Cool echo.

😱

Was he a leprican ginger with a hand full of 4 leaf clovers?
 
I always thought this was an academic exersize - or just something to appear heroic - I don't think I had ever seen it actually do something.

However....

Yesterday in the pain clinic we were doing pulsed radiofrequency to a guy's sciatic nerves for his bilateral phantom limb pain - and I was asking about his trauma experience....he had stepped on a pressure plate IED - and he proceeded to tell me how he had died several times (I was thinking...yeah, i've heard that before), THEN he shows me the huge scar across his chest and told me how they had to grab his heart directly and squeeze it to keep him alive. WTF?! The guy is sharp as a tack as well.

I was impressed - changed my thought on the whole 'crack the chest' mentality.


Never seen it work in the trauma bay....

Seen it work in the CVICU with a good outcome.
 
yeah

BUT I MEAN

its all JUST

PROP/SUX/TUBE

tank em up

PRESSURE UP GAS UP PRESSURE DOWN GAS DOWN

make sure and save time for the crossword

this way youll be a rokkstar

🙄

Holly shait....

Even Idiopathic has an inner Jet.

🙂
 
Last edited:
yeah

BUT I MEAN

its all JUST

PROP/SUX/TUBE

tank em up

PRESSURE UP GAS UP PRESSURE DOWN GAS DOWN

make sure and save time for the crossword

this way youll be a rokkstar

🙄

Pretty funny btw.

:laugh::laugh:
 
Never seen it work in the trauma bay....

Seen it work in the CVICU with a good outcome.

i probably saw 5 ED thoracotomies as a resident, all 5 made it to the OR alive, 2 or 3 had a surgeons finger on a hole in the ventricle, 4 of 5 made it out of the OR alive, Im not sure whos alive now.

One things for sure though, they didnt die in the ER
 
Dude.

You are branding

TRAUMA ANESTHESIA

like you need a degree in

ASTROPHYSICS

to make it happen.

I feel ya.....anyone hears the word

TRAUMA

most freak out.


Dude, such a

DICHOTOMY!

The dichotomy being TRAUMA ANESTHESIA sounds so bold, so important, so complex, and yet from a pragmatic standpoint

TRAUMA CARE IS SIMPLE:

1)ABC
2)"Ok, dudes breathing, let's get a cuppla 16 gauges in the MO FO while we complete the

SECONDARY SURVEY


Foley, labs, call for blood products

COMING TO THE OPERATING ROOM FOR A GANGSTA INDISCRETION?

1) PUT DUDE TO SLEEP
2) Maintain ISOVOLEMIA, and clotting....IV fluids, Hespan, blood, ffp, etc
3) Keep'em WARM to prevent coagulopathy

Yeah, but don't you have to do a neuro exam at some point??? :laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh:

I hear you loud and clear WRITER DUDE! I asked all this because I have been helping out with about 1/2 dozen chapters on trauma anesthesia and, ya know, read as interesting to me. truth be told, your description sounds spot on to what I'm reading when I think big picture. At least reading up on burns was interesting...
😀
D712
 
+1

Seriously.

The physiology of trauma? The tank is empty.
The pathophysiology of trauma? The tank is frickin empty.
The anesthetic implications? Fill the tank, and don't give a bunch of stuff that makes a semi-full tank act like it's empty.

:laugh:
 
Yeah, but don't you have to do a neuro exam at some point??? :laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh:

I hear you loud and clear WRITER DUDE! I asked all this because I have been helping out with about 1/2 dozen chapters on trauma anesthesia and, ya know, read as interesting to me. truth be told, your description sounds spot on to what I'm reading when I think big picture. At least reading up on burns was interesting...
😀
D712

My med school had a burn center that I rotated through as an MS3 and 4, and almost invariably the anesthesia provider for the cases was a CRNA. Sounded like people didn't get that excited about it; pretty similar to trauma as far as being mostly fluid replacement issues.
 
I do, however, think a lot of fun could be had doing these kinds of cases. You probably see a lot of fun stuff .

Dr. CC,

I guess I was also asking for the reason you stated here. I might take some HEAT for this, and again, remember who is writing this here, not an MD, resident, M1, yet. Here goes. Other night I went in with my mentor who was covering OB call with his team. Cool. Fun night for me! Love learning, watching asking, squirting (just kidding). 9pm, time for C-section. What did she get? Epidural. 10pm, time for...C-section. What did she get? Epidural. 1130pm, C-section #3 for night. What did she get? Epidural? Patient four in pain, vaginal, Epidural.

Anyway, OB just seemed highly-regionally-monotonous. (n=3, I get it, these cases could have probably gone in many different ways). Look, I know that there is a certain level of monotony
with ANY area of medicine, and certainly anesthesia. That comes with the turf. But if you like it, that's why peeps like Jet post that they LOVE WHAT THEY DO. Great. I pray I'm there in 30 years, looking back. So, if tons of epidurals night after night don't do it for me, then, maybe I won't go into OB, or Pain Management. So, maybe that's what it is rather than just OB.

But trauma at least, seems like there could be more "fun." First thing, lots of different types coming at you (granted, Jet and others have broken that down into one or two types: need blood, stay warm, airway, keep alive, etc) in a hurry, I dunno. I guess Hearts gets monotonous if you do it every day, sure. But, again, that's not the point. After 15 heart cases at CCFL, I sort of felt like I could see a BIT OF A pattern, but that's ok. It still seemed FUN. Sometimes, anatomy does it for you, the physiology, who knows. I loved those heart cases. Not necessarily the 6.5 hour ones but hey! But if you love it, great. I love it all, but if I had to pick Trauma vs OB, I think I'd go Trauma. Just seems more...fun. (note: not to disrespect the people who are entering the OR wishing it wasn't their night to be a trauma patient).

Again, grain of salt here coming from me. Sick kids really disturb me, and I think this could be a very real place for me to practice. But Trauma sounds inn'eresting...

D712
 
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BTW, sick kids really disturb me too, but don't let that limit your career.
When it's really bad, I've got plenty of this...
laphroaig+bottles.jpg

Taking out a big tumor for the win, reconstructions, that's where it's at. Nothing like it. Changing kids lives, giving them hope.👍
 
There are some great caes that come thorugh the trauma bay.

Cracking the chest open to do cardiac massage... in the trauma bay...

2, 3 and 6 mo. old siblings. All 3 coming in with cardio/respiratory arrest 2/2 carbon monoxide poisoning...

GSW to the head, to OR, brain edema so bad a fronto-parietal lobotomy is undertaken...

MVC with transected trachea and extensive cranio-facial-airway trauma...

Aystolic patient in drowning accident with temp of 8 degrees Celsius....

MVC with type A aortic dissection blows his aortic valve > circ arrest.

3 y/o amish kid that put his hand in to a meat grinder... arm chewed up all the way past the elbow...

do you remember how each of these turned out?
 
BTW, sick kids really disturb me too, but don't let that limit your career.
When it's really bad, I've got plenty of this...
laphroaig+bottles.jpg

Taking out a big tumor for the win, reconstructions, that's where it's at. Nothing like it. Changing kids lives, giving them hope.👍

IlDes, are you just playing with me, or can you read my mind and you've posted the ONLY AGED DRINK that I will religiously enjoy whenever I see it on a bar? LOVE LAPHROAIG...! Ahhhh, my lonely Boston nights of last year watching the Sox on the bar TV on Boylston Street.

D712
 
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Trauma can be fun and exciting when you are a young Jedi honing your skills. But a trauma fellowship is about as ridiculous as an ambulatory anesthesia or regional anesthesia fellowship.
 
You, my friend, have good taste. Even if you can't spell it.😉
Now put some in your next script...
Ardbeg is a sorry one trick pony and it gets all the press.
(though I'll drink Uigeadail)

After work at the studio, I would wander around town and look for new seafood restaurants where, if lucky, I could watch either the Bruins or Sox or Celtics game as well. I really knew NOBODY in that town and few co-workers lived near Back Bay or South End.

Usually, I just ended up at this place:

http://www.abeandlouies.com/

or this place next door over...

http://www.atlanticfishco.com/

I don't like Scotch. Never have. One night, after a HUGE SHRIMP cocktail, some steamed lobster and creme brulee no doubt, watching hockey, holding court and making some "friends," the 'tender slid over a new friend of mine... "Try this out...you may like it."

Sir Laphroaig.

She also let me try about 4 other comparable types, Ardbeg was surely one of them. As for Laph, I tried the 15 y o, Quarter Cask, and at the ripe old price of 57$ for a drink, 30 y/o. It was a love affair. To this day, I have no idea why. It just tastes like NOTHING ELSE.

D712
 
F'ing burns...
Ketamine for a dressing change, maybe some glyco.
FFP, drip drip drip.
Maybe some red stuff.
Skip the Sux.
If I never do another one, that's more than fine.

burns are stupid. i remember before i cam to vandy, watching some show about vandy medicine and there was some guy doing a burn anesthesia fellowship (?!). looking back i think, that cant be right...maybe it was burn ICU or perhaps he was a surgeon, but it sure sticks out in my mind. after doing about 100 of those OR cases, i cannot imagine that as a sole career.
 
i bet they all made it out of the OR, thanks in no small part to what was likely an organized and experienced trauma anesthesia team.

Question to the anesthesia residents and attendings at trauma heavy institutions: Who authored your massive transfusion protocols? Was it the surgeons, the anesthesiologists, or both?

On that same note, what are your ratios of blood to FFP and platelets?

The combat literature has really changed things over the last 5-10 years, but even in the last 2-3 years I've noticed a big swing in the pendulum (previously blood was bad, NS was good, hypertonic was an option...now blood is great, NS is horrible, hypertonic is heresy).
 
our protocol was cowritten by trauma and anesthesia physicians. we shoot for 4:4:1 ratios, but it ends up being closer to 6:4:1 in practice, in my experience.
 
Question to the anesthesia residents and attendings at trauma heavy institutions: Who authored your massive transfusion protocols? Was it the surgeons, the anesthesiologists, or both?

On that same note, what are your ratios of blood to FFP and platelets?

The combat literature has really changed things over the last 5-10 years, but even in the last 2-3 years I've noticed a big swing in the pendulum (previously blood was bad, NS was good, hypertonic was an option...now blood is great, NS is horrible, hypertonic is heresy).

I've found fresh whole blood is nice, when you have the option 🙂
 
6:6:1 although I think there is a lot of variability between providers

Where does the variability come from?


I've found fresh whole blood is nice, when you have the option 🙂

That would be nice if it was an option.

When I was in Wichita, we always did 1:1 as well. Earlier on in my training, we were giving 7.5% hypertonic saline as well....stopped doing that after the literature showed it's bad.

Luckily, I'm semi-retired from trauma care...I never really liked it much. Sure the big bloody OR cases were sexy, but the day-to-day bullcrap was intolerable.
 
Anyway, OB just seemed highly-regionally-monotonous. (n=3, I get it, these cases could have probably gone in many different ways). Look, I know that there is a certain level of monotony
with ANY area of medicine, and certainly anesthesia. That comes with the turf. But if you like it, that's why peeps like Jet post that they LOVE WHAT THEY DO. Great. I pray I'm there in 30 years, looking back. So, if tons of epidurals night after night don't do it for me, then, maybe I won't go into OB, or Pain Management. So, maybe that's what it is rather than just OB.

Anesthesiologists either seem to love or hate OB. I generally like OB. It's the only time patients are happy to come to the hospital, and the patients really love and appreciate their anesthesiologist.

I especially like OB in our military population - 98% of the patients are young and healthy, all of them have insurance and good prenatal care, there's almost no drug/alcohol/tobacco abuse. Bad outcomes are extremely rare. On the civilian side I like OB a lot less ... far more drug use, far more screwed up family/social/economic situations, less or no prenatal care, far more obesity, insurance is often an issue. Going back and forth from the military to civilian gigs, I avoid OB on the civilian side, and I can see why so many of us dislike OB anesthesia.

OB call universally sucks though, because babies are very inconsiderate when it comes to my schedule.
 
1. level 2 trauma center is the same as a level 1 trauma center, except without the academics, so there's definitely a lot of PP jobs with lots of trauma. Level 3 and below are where you only get the occasional broken bones
2. That being said, trauma is 24/7, generally poor payor mix so you'll be relying on a hospital stipend, and it's stressful, in that you have to move somewhat quickly at times. When you're 60yo, you may not want to wake up at 2am and run down to pump blood and drugs.
3. In less emergent trauma, it seems like there would be lots of opportunities for regional anesthesia
4. +1 don't bother with CCM, and +1 to going to a residency with a busy trauma center
5. Is there no love for Lagavulin 16y?
 
yes we would all rather have whole blood, its fairly prohibitive here though
I've never seen it available, but I heard a speaker at the PGA from Shock Trauma
(I think Dr. Dutton) say the almost exclusively use whole blood for their resuscitation.
 
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