VOLUME 1, ISSUE 35

AEROMED OUTREACH

M A R C H 2 0 1 7

TGH BRANDON HEALTHPL EX OPEN HOUSE

Aeromed recently participat- physicians. It also will in- INSIDE THIS ISSUE: ed in the Tampa General clude a helipad.

TGH BRANDON 1 Brandon Healthplex HEALTHPLEX The open house event in- O P E N H O U S E open house. The event cele- cluded new facility tours, brated the opening of the THE GUY EXPO 1 helicopter tours and free 2017 at activities like face painting the Healthplex on March PHYSICIAN’S 2 and fun photo booth. The ARTICLE 27th. Additional services to Tampa Bay Rays, the Tampa open in the near future in- Bay Lightning, Topgolf, iFly clude ambulatory surgery, indoor skydiving and the lab and imaging services American Heart Association and a pharmacy. also set up booths. The Brandon Healthplex will also have offices for TGMG primary care physicians, USF specialty physicians and Brandon area community

U P C O M I N G O U T R E A C H THE GUY EXPO 2017 ACTIVITIES Aeromed recently participat- available for free.  Aeromed Community ed in the annual men’s Education Session Also included was the “Save health event in Manatee May 4th at 0900. A Life Tour” that stresses the Contact Jennifer County. The GUY Expo was risk of death and injury asso- Mefford at jmef- held at the Bradenton Area [email protected] for ciated with distracted driv- Convention Center and was more information. ing, sponsored by Blake all about fun while caring for Medical Center, and helicop- your health. During this ter tours by Aeromed. event, health screenings,

educational presentations and consultations were

Air transport services provided by Metro Aviation, Inc. AEROMED OUTREACH Page 2 PHYSICIAN’S ARTICLE

Wolff-Parkinson-White is not worth the risk. Re- 300 beats per minute. or ibutilide. If unstable, as Syndrome member electricity is your This is different from a-fib with any other unstable friend. If a patient with a- discussed We have with aberrancy (i.e., right tachydysrhythmia, they fib is unstable he should Wolff-Parkinson-White or left bundle branch are treated with synchro- receive synchronized elec- (WPW) syndrome in the blocks). In the setting of a nized electrical cardiover- trical cardioversion. If the past. But, I feel, it is ap- -fib with aberrancy, the sion. Electricity!! patient is stable I believe propriate to review com- rhythm is also irregularly It is my opinion that we we should hold AV node plex concepts to ensure irregular but the QRS mor- should not use AV node bloackade until the pa- understanding. This is phologies will be the blocking agents in the tient is in a more con- true especially when cer- same/unchanging, and field for a-fib. Take a step trolled hospital setting. tain treatments we pro- the rates will not be exces- back and consider the vide in the field or hospi- Most of the above is sively fast. Stable patients risks and benefits. A sta- only my opinion. As al- tal can cause significant suspected of having a-fib ble a-fib patient with rapid ways, follow your proto- harm to the patient if with WPW should not re- ventricular response (RVR) cols. I am an advocate of done incorrectly. ceive agents that block does not require rate con- EMS and do not intend to Estimated to occur in the AV node, such as calci- trol emergently. Sure, imply that prehospital pro- 0.1% to 0.3% of the pop- um channel blockers they should receive rate viders cannot assess ulation, WPW is a condi- (CCB) or beta blockers. control somewhat quickly these patients properly. tion in which atrial im- The administration of AV as we don’t want an 85 But I feel that manage- pulses bypass the atrio- nodal blocking medica- year-old’s heart racing at ment of stable a-fib pa- ventricular (AV) node tions will allow all of the 140 bpm for 2 days. But a tient may be safer in the and activate the ventricu- atrial impulses to go down 15 minute transport won’t hospital setting. Please lar myocardium directly the accessory pathway. make much difference if email with other opinions through an accessory Keeping in mind that the he is stable. If he is unsta- or questions. pathway. Although several atrial rate in a-fib is up- ble he should receive im-

different rhythm presenta- wards of 600 bmp, allow- mediate synchronized tions are possible, atrial ing unrestricted conduc- cardioversion. If the pa- Marshall A. Frank, fibrillation (a-fib) is a fre- tion down the accessory tient is in a-fib with WPW, DO, MPH, FACEP, EMT-P quent dysrhythmia seen in pathway during a-fib will the potential for harm is Medical Director, the WPW patient. A-fib lead to ventricular fibrilla- great if we do not recog- Tampa General Hospital, with WPW should be sus- tion. This is certainly not nize the condition. The Aeromed pected in an EKG that the outcome we are look- amount of harm we can Affiliate Assistant Profes- shows an irregularly irreg- ing for when simply at- do in that situation versus sor, Department of Emer- ular rhythm with QRS com- tempting rate control in a the amount of good we do gency Medicine plexes that have changing stable patient. These sta- by achieving rate control University of South morphologies and ventric- ble patients are treated in a-fib RVR, in my opinion, TEAMHealth/ ular rates that approach with either procainamide Tampa General Hospital Air transport services provided by Metro Aviation, Inc.