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Prehospital ECPR at the CARDIAC Symposium 2026 @intensiveblog - If only all prehospital ECPR had commentary by Sacha Richardson - great demo by the Alfred / ambulance victoria team! #FOAMed #FOAMcc #FOAMecmo
Chris Nickson @precordialthump.bsky.social
36.9K posts
Chris Nickson @precordialthump.bsky.social
@precordialthump
Intensivist/ECMO specialist/Clinician Educator at @AlfredHeath. Calm amid a #FOAMed storm @LITFLblog @resuscitology @RAGEpodcast @INTENSIVEblog @ANZCENIncubator
- Hard not to be angry at @ScottMorrisonMP and @GladysB right now - (1) it was always a race to get vaccinated (2) early effective lockdown in NSW would have saved lives and may have limited spread to other states.
- As a trainee we often focus on "getting procedures". As ICU consultant it wouldn't bother me if I never did another ecmo cannulation etc. We add value by leading, cognition, & communication. Our role is in sense making, anticipation/planning, seeing the whole patient, & teaching.
- Just found out my 9yo and his friends have been practicing jabbing themselves with pencils so that when they are eligible for covid vaccination they will ready… #GetVaccinatedNow
- Something I’ve learned: a tip for conference/ course organisers - replace all your “debates” with “conversations”. Learning comes from curiosity, openness, and understanding - not false dichotomies.
- Accumulating ICU research continues to suggest that the art of (ICU) medicine consists of “doing as much nothing as possible” (except when you have to intervene!)
- I’m a fierce skeptic & the anti-Vax movement makes me angry, but so far my only emotion when encountering critically ill anti-vax COVID patients is sadness. A simple choice that unravels everything. We're all human beings who make mistakes, get vaccinated before it is too late.
- Sometimes the difference btw needing intubation or not, is an expert ICU nurse who can provide medical Rx with one hand & continuously stroke the patient's hair with the other. There is no $ value for this.
- I think a better way for audience to tweet at conferences is to listen and think during the talk, then write notes, then create tweets as a reflective exercise and share. Tweeting/ multi-tasking during a learning activity likely hinders learning. #meded
- My friend @DocJohnHinds rides on, on the walls of the Alfred ICU, inspiring us all to be better
- Unfortunately, people do die or suffer from “overdiagnosis”. I.e. false positive test -> unnecessary invasive intervention -> complication -> morbidity/ mortality People die or suffer from “underdiagnosis” too. Need to find the “sweet spot” not create false dichotomiesNo one has ever died from “overdiagnosis”. But women die because of under-diagnosis every day. “Overdiagnosis” means you were diagnosed with X but died of Y. The only way to avoid it is to stop diagnosing X altogether. I, for one, refuse to sacrifice my patients’ lives that way.
- Sometimes ECMO gets dismissed as just an expensive gizmo. Wrong. Along with effective communication, it is the most powerful intervention in crit care - seen it rescue too many people when “death has got the timing wrong”. Of course, with great power comes great responsibility...
- Living with covid according to @ScottMorrisonMP : “Sadly, there will be funerals - but people can attend them!” 🤦🏻♂️ My father, step-father, & uncle have all died during this pandemic. No funerals is small print vs excess deaths & health systems unable to provide best care.People might die, but Morrison says under the next phase at least you'll be able to attend the funeral. And how good are picnics!! #auspol #covid19nsw #covid19vic
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