Like a Surgeon: How to Do Hemostatic Resuscitation Well

Like parachute pants and CD players, the ATLS mantra of “crystalloid before blood” left our collective EM consciousness long ago. Every emergency physician knows deep in their soul that hypotensive trauma patients need to be resuscitated with blood first. However, changes to the trauma resuscitation literature continue to move quickly and it has been years since most of us completed our training (or last ATLS update). A monumental shift in the practice of transfusion is underway focusing on the increasing availability of whole blood, and use of real-time coagulation assays to provide targeted correction of coagulopathy. Join Dr. Duncan, a Surgical Intensivist and Emergency Physician, for an update of best and latest practices in trauma transfusion and primer for how to perform a hemostatic resuscitation.