Archives for October 2011

All Nestled in Bed: Blanket Warmers

I sometimes wonder if men have a disadvantage. The tender and comforting thing doesn’t come as naturally to many of us. Genes, I suppose; we were busy hunting the wooly mammoth while the babies were being nursed.

But as I’m wont to harp upon, in my opinion, one of the most important treatments EMS can offer is simply comforting its patients in their worst times. Most of our patients aren’t dying. A few are. The one trait shared by both categories is that they’re all having a hard time. And with a deft human touch, we can usually help. Just being alive is the indication for that intervention.

A gentle word, a listening ear, going the extra mile — it’s all worth something. But there’s one trick that every seasoned EMT knows, and it’s this: a warm blanket can cure all ills.

Somewhere within every emergency department, tucked somewhere in a corner, there stands a shiny metal refrigerator-like device called a blanket warmer. It’s essentially an electric oven. Busy nurses and techs toss in blankets, shut the door, and before long they’re warmed through to a preset temperature. Which is: Toasty.

This may sound banal. But warm blankets are amazing.

I can’t count how many patients I’ve assessed, treated, and transported, where in the end I was confident that the best thing I did for them was cover their body with a warm blanket. It’s balm for the soul. Never mind that most of our patients are old, diabetic, anticoagulated, and have the blood pressure of a wet towel. Never mind that the rest are acutely sick or injured, distressed, hurt and often alone. Never mind that they may have come in from the street, on a night when the weather’s had you bundled up in your winter coat. And never mind that hypothermia promotes tissue hypoxia and coagulopathy.

The simple fact is that the ER is an uncomfortable, unpleasant, physically and emotionally cold place, and it’s worse when you’re sick enough to get there by ambulance. We have to deliver our patients into this nasty place, but at least we can try and make it a gentle experience. Sadly, we usually can’t bring them hot chocolate, give them a footrub or play smooth jazz. But warm blankets we can do.

Let me tell you, too, that no patient has ever issued a complaint or filed a lawsuit against an EMT when his last actions were to smile, cover her with a warm blanket, shake her hand, and wish her luck. True fact.

But lawsuits aside, this is just the easiest way in the book to ease someone’s suffering. And ain’t that something that comes with the patch?

Ensuring Appropriate Triage

It’s no secret that I’m a strong believer in patient advocacy, and that I feel one of the most important roles for EMS is to ensure that patients get directed to the right destination with the right priority and resources. Bob Sullivan at EMS Patient Perspective recently gave a post that hits on all of these points, discussing how to ensure that “undertriaged” patients don’t fall through the cracks at the ED. These details on how to work the system are some of the most valuable things we learn with experience, and to a large degree they’re what allow the ten-year veteran to help patients in ways the novice can’t. Give it a read!

What it Looks Like: Jugular Vein Distention

See also what Agonal RespirationsSeizures, and Cardiac Arrest and CPR look like

Jugular vein distention or JVD (alternately JVP — jugular vein pressure or jugular vein pulsation) is right up there among the most mentioned but least described clinical phenomena in EMS. If you tried to count how many times it occurs in your textbook, you’d run out of fingers, but many of us graduate without ever seeing so much as a picture of it, never mind developing the acumen to reliably recognize it in an emergency.

JVD is simply the visible “bulging” of the external jugular veins on either side of the neck. These are large veins that drain blood from the head and return it directly to the heart. Since they’re located near the surface, they provide a reasonably good measure of systemic venous pressure.

JVD is elevated any time venous return is greater than the heart’s ability to pump the blood back out. Remember that we’re not talking about the vessels that plug into the left heart; that involves the pulmonary arteries and veins, which are not visible in the neck. (Instead, the best indicator of pulmonary hypertension is audible fluid in the lungs.) Rather, we’re talking about the systemic vasculature, which drains into the right ventricle via the right atrium. When veins aren’t getting emptied, we look downstream to discover what portion of the pump is failing. JVD is therefore caused by right heart failure. (Of course, the most common cause of right heart failure is left heart failure, so that doesn’t mean it’s an isolated event.) If JVD isn’t the heart’s fault, then we look to fluid levels. Too much circulating volume will lead to bulging veins for obvious reasons; the flexible tubes are simply extra full.

Although it’s probably most often seen, and most diagnostic, in volume-overloaded CHF patients, the main reason JVD is harped upon in EMS is because it’s a useful sign of several acute emergencies. Mainly, these are obstructive cardiac conditions, where some sort of pressure is impeding the heart’s ability to expand, and immediate care to relieve the pressure is needed in order to prevent incurable deadness. Much like the bladder, the heart is just a supple bag of squishy muscle, and although muscle is very good at squeezing, it has no ability to actively expand. The heart therefore fills only with whatever blood passively flows into it, and if it’s being externally squeezed by pressure in the chest, it can’t fill very much.

Tension pneumothorax is perhaps the most common cause, where air leaks from the lungs into the chest cavity with no way to escape; as the pressure in the chest increases, it bears down on the heart. Associated symptoms are respiratory difficulty, decreased breath sounds on the affected side, and hypotension. Pneumothorax can be readily corrected by paramedics using needle decompression.

Cardiac tamponade is another cause, where fluid leaks from the heart into the pericardium, an inflexible sac that surrounds it (this leakage is called a pericardial effusion), eventually filling the available space and compressing the myocardium. Associated symptoms are hypotension and muffled heart sounds (these plus JVD are known as Beck’s triad). Tamponade cannot be treated in the field, but an emergency department can perform a pericardiocentesis, where a needle is inserted through the pericardium. (For the medics out there, electrical alternans on the monitor is also supportive of tamponade.)

A rather less common syndrome that can produce similar obstructive effects is severe constrictive pericarditis, inflammation of the pericardium usually caused by infection.

JVD is not an all-or-nothing finding — the amount of distention visible at the neck will depend on the degree of venous pressure. Gravity wants to pull blood back down, so the more venous pressure, the higher on the neck distention will climb; profound JVD reaches many inches up the neck, slight JVD will only cover a few centimeters. The pressure can actually be quantified by measuring the vertical height of the highest point of distention (measured from the heart itself, using the angle of Louis as a landmark), but this is probably more detail than is needed in the field. Suffice to say that distention reaching more than 2-4cm of vertical distance (as opposed to the distance on the neck) above the chest is usually considered pathological, and less than 1-2cm can be considered suggestive of hypovolemia.

If it changes with respiration, JVD should rise during expiration and fall with inspiration. Breathing in involves using your diaphragm to create “suction” in the chest, reducing pressure and allowing greater venous return — draining the jugulars. A paradoxical rise in JVD during inspiration (think: up when the chest goes up) is known as Kussmaul’s sign (not to be confused with Kussmaul respirations, which is a pattern of breathing), and is particularly suggestive of obstructive pathologies.

JVD can be difficult to appreciate in all but the most significant cases. It helps to turn the patient’s head away and illuminate the area with angled backlighting, which creates a “shadow” effect. Jugular pulsation should not be confused with a visibly bounding carotid pulse. To distinguish them, remember that although jugular veins may visibly pulsate, their rhythm is generally complex, with multiple pulsations for each single heartbeat (you can feel the carotid to compare the two). The jugular “pulse” will also never be palpable; the distention can be easily occluded by the fingers and will feel like nothing.

Strictly speaking, the internal jugular is usually considered more diagnostically useful than the external jugular, but it’s far harder to examine, so the latter is often used. For various reasons, many people also find the right jugular more useful than the left, although in an ambulance it’s harder to examine.

Most often, JVD is examined in an inclined or semi-Fowler’s position of 30-45 degrees. If the patient is supine, a total lack of visible JVD is actually pathological and indicative of low volume; in this position the jugular veins are usually well-filled. (Think: flat veins in a flat patient is bad.) JVD when the head is elevated is more to our interest.

Some examples of visible JVD follow, plus some examination tips. It is recommended that you start checking this on your healthy patients now, so you’ll know what it looks like before you try to make a diagnostic call using its presence. And until you do, stop documenting “no JVD” on your assessments!

Significant JVD

Significant JVD

A different, much larger view of the same (click to enlarge)

A different, much larger view of the same (click to enlarge)

Click through for a good discussion of JVD assessment

Click through for a good discussion of JVD assessment

Some more subtle JVD

Some more subtle JVD

The basic method of measuring JVD

The basic method of measuring JVD

A nicely thick and squiggly external jugular

A nicely thick and squiggly external jugular

Here’s a student making her external jugular “pop” by heavily bearing down, aka the Valsalva maneuver. This markedly increases thoracic pressure, increasing venous backup; it’s an exaggeration of the effect seen during normal exhalation.

Another example of someone inducing JVD by a Valsalva

Here’s a great video demonstrating the appearance of JVD, how to measure it, and testing the abdominojugular reflex (formerly known as the hepatojugular), which involves pressing down on the abdomen to raise thoracic pressure.

A brief clip of jugular venous pulsation, visible mainly toward the suprasternal notch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOpn6_r7Wo4

Live from Prospect St: The Reluctant Tumble (conclusion)

Previously part 1 and part 2

Being reluctant to force Joe into an undesired ambulance ride, the crew contacted their supervisor. He arrived, evaluated the patient, agreed with their conclusions, and called Dr. Scrubs to discuss the matter. He was unable to dissuade the doctor from his decision.

The crew and supervisor approached Joe together and informed him of the circumstances; although all parties agreed that he should rightly be able to refuse transport, they felt they had been overruled by a higher authority, and if he would not come voluntarily they would be forced to compel him. Under this duress, Joe finally agreed to be transported, loudly and vocally protesting.

He was taken to his preferred hospital and care was handed off to staff with a full description of the situation. Less than 30 minutes later, another crew was sent back to the hospital to return Joe home; the attending ED physician had deemed his involuntary hold to be invalid and inappropriate, and refused to hold him against his will. No further evaluation was performed.

The encounter was documented extensively and quality improvement measures involving EMS and the base physician are expected.

 

Discussion

This case was not medically complicated, but it involved some difficult issues of consent and risk. Let’s look at the medicine and then at the wrinkles.

Medical Considerations

We were dispatched for a chief complaint of a fall — a very common mechanism of injury. When evaluating the fall, what should our main concerns be?

First, we should examine the mechanism itself. How far was the fall? In this case, as it often is, the fall was from a standing height, and from a standstill (i.e. not propelled while running, stumbling while breakdancing, etc.). This is often seen as the dividing line for significant versus non-significant falls; in many areas, falls from standing height or greater are considered an indication for spinal immobilization. (Other areas say greater than standing height; 3x standing height or more; or other numbers.) The elderly in particular are considered at higher risk for spinal injury, due to weakened bones and tighter ligamentous connections between vertebrae.

Typically, a blow to the head with loss of consciousness is also considered high risk for spinal injury. This is under the assumption that a blow with enough force to cause LOC may also have enough force to damage the spine. These considerations are all valid, but should only be seen as some of the many factors involved in stratifying risk; they must be considered alongside other elements like the physical assessment. In some systems, you may be forced to immobilize based on mechanism without other considerations. In others, you may be allowed to rule out immobilization based on certain findings, most of which Joe has; for instance, he denies neck or back pain or tenderness, denies peripheral parasthesias (numbness or tingling) or weakness, ambulated well, turns his head, and has no confounding factors like a distracting injury or altered mental status. In any case, the post-fall presentation was so benign that risk seemed low, and given the patient’s overall reluctance it is highly unlikely that he would have consented to a collar and board.

The use of warfarin (trade name Coumadin), on the other hand, does significantly increase the risk of intracranial hemorrhage (ICH), especially after blunt trauma to the head. Although again, Joe’s assessment was very reassuring — normal vitals, no complaints, and a baseline neurological status — it is very possible for ICH to have a delayed onset of presentation. The best example of this is the subdural hematoma, where cases of moderate severity sometimes take hours or days to develop, due to the venous rather than arterial source of bleeding. This delay is particularly common in the elderly, where (possibly due to shrinking of the gray matter, which leaves additional room for blood to collect before pressure begins compressing the brain) a classic scenario is the fall with a blow to the head, no complaints for hours afterward, and then sudden deterioration. Some sources state that 60% of geriatric fall patients who experience LOC from a blow to the head will eventually die as a result. Since in this case, we were delayed on scene for quite some time, there would be value in ongoing and repeated assessments of symptoms, neurological status, and vital signs while we waited around.

The patient’s pupils were unusual in appearance, which can be an indicator of brain herniation; however, this syndrome typically presents with one very large and round pupil. An irregularly shaped pupil as we saw here is more indicative of a structural defect, the most common of which is probably cataract surgery, which can leave the pupil off-round.

An incomplete medical history is common in scene calls involving the elderly. However, many do carry med lists, and in most cases you can reconstruct the majority of the patient’s diagnoses based on their medications. In this case, we found digoxin (or digitalis), which is almost always used to control atrial fibrillation; this is consistent with the patient’s irregular pulse, and with the warfarin, which helps prevent A-fib induced clots. Metformin (Glucophage) is an antidiabetic that helps control glucose levels. Citalopram (Celexa) is a common antidepressant of the SSRI type. Advair (fluticasone and salmeterol) is a preventative asthma/COPD inhaler combining a steroid with a long-acting beta agonist; it is used regularly to minimize flare-ups and is not a rescue inhaler. Omeprazole (Prilosec) is used for gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), aka heartburn. Ibuprofen is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAID) used for pain relief and reduction of inflammation.

As VinceD noted in the comments, one essential question in any fall — and indeed in almost any traumatic event — is what caused it. Here we have a somewhat vague account which suggests a mechanical fall, i.e. tripping or loss of balance; this is not necessarily benign, as a history of repeated mechanical falls suggests deteriorating coordination or strength, but it is usually not indicative of an acute medical problem. However, many elderly patients (and some of the younger ones, too) will attribute any fall to tripping, so this claim should be taken with a grain of salt. It helps to have a witness to the event, as we do here, although witnesses are not always reliable either. In any case, what we want to know is: what happened just before the fall? Was the patient simply walking and tripped on a rug? Did he have seizure-like activity? Was he standing normally when he suddenly lost muscle tone and collapsed? Did he complain of feeling faint or dizzy? Was he exerting himself or straining on the toilet? Things happen for a reason.

 

Ethical and Legal Considerations

The bigger question is whether it’s okay for Joe to refuse transportation.

This is an odd question, because ordinarily we assume that people are free to go where they want, and calling 911 (or having it called for them) does not surrender this right. However, there is an attitude among those with a duty to act, such as healthcare providers and public safety officers, that individuals who are not cognitively able to understand their situation and make decisions in their best interest need to be protected from their own impaired judgment. This is equivalent to taking your friend’s keys so he won’t drive drunk, under the assumption that he wouldn’t want to drive drunk were he making sensible decisions. The legal term is implied consent, the same principle by which we transport children, drunks, and unconscious people.

How do we know if somebody is unable to make their own decisions? There is not an obvious line. For many providers, their rule of thumb is the old “A&Ox4”: if someone knows who they are, where they are, when it is, and what’s going on, then they are alert and oriented and capable of making decisions. Of course, this is only one piece of the mental puzzle. Social workers, psychiatrists, and other specialists have a full battery of tests that can help further reveal cognitive capacity. Can you perform these in the field? It’s probably more than you’re likely to do, although you might perform something simple like the MMSE. But some basic questions that highlight the patient’s judgment can help supplement your routine assessment — questions like, “Suppose you were at the mall when you started to smell smoke and heard the fire alarm. What would you do?” where any rational response is acceptable.

It’s important for the patient to be able to demonstrate that they understand what’s going on. Even someone with ordinary mental competence — unless they’re a fellow knowledgable healthcare professional — needs to be informed (to the best ability of the provider) of the possible risks and consequences of refusing care. In this case, it would involve giving them some description of the above possibilities (spinal fracture, head bleed, etc.), and ideally having the patient then relate them back to you, demonstrating good comprehension of those facts. The base physician’s view that Joe hadn’t fully demonstrated this understanding was a key part of his decision that he needed to be transported against his will.

Other important points are to ensure that the patient knows that refusal doesn’t preclude future care (“if you change your mind, you can always call back”); and that the ability of the providers to evaluate the patient on scene is at best limited. Any implication that you know what’s really happening to the patient or can definitively rule in or rule out any medical problem is unwise and legally risky. In fact, even suggesting possibilities or probabilities can be problematic if you’re wrong; on the other hand, failing to do so can leave them uninformed, so this can be a Catch 22. Your best bet is to outline some basic possibilities, carefully inform them of the limits of your training and resources, and be smart enough that you generally know what you’re talking about in the first place.

One complication in this case is the presence of someone who claims to be Joe’s health care proxy. A proxy (closely linked to the idea of a durable power of attorney) is a person whom, while of sound mind, you designate to make decisions for you if at a later time you are not of sound mind. Crucially, if you are still capable of decision-making, a proxy does not have the ability to override you; their role is to act on your behalf when you cannot. In other words, the decision of Joe’s proxy is only relevant if we do find (or in some areas, if an authority such as a judge has decided) that he’s incompetent to refuse or consent to treatment; thus, her presence does not necessarily alter the basic dilemma.

In this case, the physician’s attitude was that the problem was primarily medical: does the patient need emergency department evaluation to rule out dangerous processes? Medically, he does. However, the first question actually needs to be: Is the patient capable of evaluating risk and making decisions in his own best interest? If he is, then he is technically “allowed” to decide whatever he wants. Even a clearly dying man can refuse medical care based on religious views, personal preference, or any reason whatsoever (although barring a proxy or advanced directive, once he’s unconscious he can usually be treated under implied consent). This is different from the person who actively tries to take his own life; for philosophical reasons we view this as different from passively allowing oneself to die for lack of medical treatment. We prevent people from committing suicide but allow them to refuse medical care.

Realistically, although this fundamental right does not change, it’s fair to consider the surrounding medical circumstances to help decide how pressing and high-risk the matter is. In this case the doctor clearly felt that the risk was so high that it required going to extraordinary lengths, including overruling the patient’s own decisions and potentially even harming him, to ensure that a dangerous situation wasn’t “missed” — in short, that the ends justified the means. Dr. House is famous for this approach.

Legally, in most areas EMS providers are seen as operating under the bailiwick and legal authority of their medical director, and online medical control is an extension of this authority. In other words, within reason we are bound by the orders of medical control. The details of this relationship vary, and are not always fully explored. For an example, consider this true story from 1997 in New Jersey:

A North Bergen dual-medic crew is dispatched to a pregnant, full term female in cardiac arrest. Downtime is unknown, and they work the code for a number of minutes without response. Determining that the mother is likely unsalvageable, and concerned for the health of the fetus, they contact medical control. After a “joint decision” the base physician verbally talks them through performing an emergency C-section on scene. They deliver and successfully resuscitate the fetus, and both patients are transported. The mother is declared dead soon afterwards, but the infant lives for a number of days before dying in the hospital. In the aftermath, the paramedics are cited for violating their scope of practice, and their licenses to practice are revoked in the state of New Jersey. The physician is forced to undergo remediation training to maintain his medical control privileges.

Is the moral that acting in the patient’s best interest is not always a defense against liability? Maybe. Is the moral that medical control cannot authorize you to perform otherwise illegal acts? Maybe. Is the moral that we should protect ourselves before the patient? I don’t know about that, but it’s something to think about. In this case, the course for Joe that seems most ethical to me — allowing the patient to make his own decisions — also lets us avoid potential liability for battering and kidnapping. However, it does force us to refuse a direct order from medical control. Invoking our supervisor gives us a bigger boat either way, and would be a big help to protect us from trouble coming from our employer, one of the most likely sources. It’s also true that, while we may have believed that Joe was competent, he is at least somewhat diminished, so we’re less than completely confident. Nobody wants to put themselves on the line by taking a stand, only to be proven wrong.

Fortunately in this case we were able to avoid getting violent at all, but it was a near thing. If it did prove necessary, it should have been done with ample manpower and many hands; in some areas chemical sedation by paramedics may also be authorized. And I would certainly not recommend acting without the doctor’s signature on a legal document.

With everything viewed in retrospect, the situation would have been much more easily resolved had the doctor not been involved in the process. At the same time, however, if a simple refusal had been accepted, and CQI later went over the call — especially if Joe experienced a bad outcome — the crew would have been in a difficult place.

No matter what, such a situation is highly unusual, flush with liability, and should be thoroughly documented in all respects.