HEMS Debrief - Retrieval and Pre-Hospital Medicine #1. Thoracotomies, with Dr Ian Ferguson and Chris Ennis.

G'day, and welcome back to the Sydney HEMS Debrief podcast. 

Today, we re-introduce some more general pre-hospital retrieval medicine matters, and what could be more retrieval medicine than a pre-hospital thoracotomy.

Joining the pod today, we have Dr Ian Ferguson and CCP Chris Ennis who together discuss their recently published research paper on this HALO procedure. 

This case series reviews all cases of pre-hospital resuscitative thoracotomy undertaken from 1st Jan 2013 until 31st December 2024, within the NSW physician-CCP pre-hospital system. In concert with recently published data from the London team, Ian, Chris and Sam, discuss the nuances of this procedure - the why, the when and the unexpected survivors observed within the Sydney study cohort. 

Too, we discuss the use of ultrasound in this patient cohort and the importance of the 'everything else' beyond the procedure itself. 

A reference of the full text is below, and as ever please do share with your peers and network. 

Chat soon.

 

Ennis C, Tant J, Burns B, Oliver H, Ostrowski K, Oliver M, Kruit N, Ferguson I. Pre-Hospital Resuscitative Thoracotomy Performed in New South Wales, Australia: A Case-Series. Emerg Med Australas. 2025 Dec;37(6):e70186. doi: 10.1111/1742-6723.70186. PMID: 41362072.