A novel approach to community CPR and AED outreach focused on underserved learner communities.

Creating a sustainable community cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and automated external defibrillator (AED) program that reaches underserved communities poses a challenge for the emergency medical services (EMS) community. Attendance, funding, and resources have all been linked to struggles surrounding community CPR/AED programs. Through our experience in conducting CPR/AED trainings in underserved regions of eastern North Carolina, we propose a method of effectively utilizing existing organizations and institutions of learning to expand and maintain a sustainable community CPR/AED program.

An Unusual Case of Posterior Reversible Encephalopathy Syndrome.

A 21-year-old pregnant female with no significant past medical history presented with acute onset headache and nausea as well as tonic-clonic seizures, then rapidly decompensated into a coma with complete absence of brainstem reflexes. The patient was ultimately diagnosed with hemolysis, elevated liver enzymes, and low platelets (HELLP syndrome) and subsequent posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES) with brainstem involvement. Emergent delivery and blood pressure control resulted in rapid and complete neurologic recovery.

Radial artery pseudoaneurysm: a simplified treatment method.

A radial artery pseudoaneurysm represents a rare, potentially catastrophic complication of arterial cannulation that has been reported after cardiac catheterization. Treatment options are limited to chemical, mechanical, and combined approaches to obliterate the radial artery pseudoaneurysm and tract. Manual compression protocols using the TR Band (Terumo Medical Corporation, Somerset, NJ) have been variable and anecdotal, without objective measurements of adequate compression, making this technique prone to failure.