The Q Word Podcast The Q Word Podcast

RSI is a common high stakes procedure done in emergent airways in the ER, but imagine how your patients must feel if they regain awareness during paralysis. One patient said “it was the worst pain he’d ever had and it was unbearable.” How can your ER team avoid unwittingly contributing to this pain? Nyssa and Lisa examine a study that reveals the prevalence of awareness with paralysis in the ER and discuss how to keep it from happening to your patient.

Superstitious behavior is one thing, but Nyssa and Lisa have found proof that saying the dreaded Q word in the ER may indeed have a quantifiable impact on whether or not you have an out-of-control shift.  Dive deep into the cause and effect relationship between luck and chaos, and learn all about the pandemonium an errant utterance can have on your practice.

Dumb people doing dumb things is nothing new, but Lisa and Nyssa - with special guest Dr. Cory Nonnemacher  - examine how the viral challenge trend has led to a whole new generation of dangerous stunts being performed for likes and lolz by today's social-media hungry kids.  Learn what challenges like the "Skullbreaker", "Milk Crate" and "Scalp Pop" look like when they present in your ERs, and what downstream health implications these internet exploits might mean to your patients.

In the second half of this special two-part episode, Lisa and Nyssa continue their discussion of human trafficking, this time investigating how and why an ER visit offers a potential escape route to victims of this global criminal enterprise.  Learn how to recognize it, how to stop it, and how to protect yourself and your patient when you encounter it.  

Whether you know it or not, as a healthcare professional, you have probably encountered a victim of human trafficking at least once in your practice.  People of all ages, genders, backgrounds, and origins are trafficked every day, in every town in America.  In this first half of a special two-part episode, Lisa and Nyssa discuss the particulars and statistics of this widespread and rapidly growing crime epidemic.

Patients rely on nurses to alleviate their suffering, but what can nurses do to protect themselves from the weight and stress of providing care for the sick and dying?  Nyssa and Lisa talk to Ariel Brown and AnnMarie Papa about The Emotional PPE Project, an initiative born out of the overwhelmingly increased burden placed on healthcare workers during the COVID crisis. This no cost, no insurance resource connects mental health professionals eager to help professional caregivers shield themselves from the harm face-masks and hand sanitizer can't prevent.  Nyssa made the call - and so can you!