Finger Thoracostomy

So the traumatic arrest in pea Often times, you know, we're thinking of the H's and T's, and one of those requires us to think of tension pneumothorax or hemothorax. For a long time, we used just needle thoracostomy. And we know that oftentimes that doesn't work. For whatever reason, we have now moved into finger thoracostomy. And again, this will be something that our EMS captains will do or our flight crews will do. We have now, the training has been done. Those kits are now in the proper locations. But what I wanted to emphasize, it's for both adult and pediatrics. And so it's very simple. It's a scalpel incision. You feel where you're going to go. You take the Kelly clamp, you pop right in, you spread that clamp, and you pull out. And that's it. It's very, very simple. Now, for the adult, you may want to use your index finger. For the child, you may want to use your pinky finger. That's the only difference. But let's give both adults and children the chance to come back from a traumatic arrest. Who's in pea? Now, remember, the numbers may only be 1 in 20 or 5%. But if you were that 1 in 20 or your child was at 1 in 20, it makes it all worth it. Of course, make sure that you're safe doing it. The scalpel has to be put away appropriately. And, of course, if there's any concern for rib fractures, there's going to be a double glove, and you want to make sure that when your finger goes in or your pinky goes in that you're careful not to nick your finger. But I think that's going to be a very rare occurrence. I think we're really excited about this happening. And so look for that. Understand it's out there. And think through that as you're going through your abcde.