Greater Sydney Area HEMS

G'day and welcome back to the Debrief, another episode here of the cardiac arrest deep dive.

Today is a cracker - we have our very own Dr Cliff Reid in conversation with Nat, discussing PEA. Now, anyone who knows Cliff will know he is passionate about many things, one of which is PEA - specifically the nomenclature around PEA and the differences between PEA patients, and thus how we treat them; not all PEAs are the same, and therefore the treatment considerations need to be equally as nuanced. 

In this episode, Nat and Cliff break down different PEA cohorts, and use their own experiences to colour-in the fascinating discussion of this often over-looked subset of cardiac arrest patients. 

 

A huge thank you to all those who listen to the podcast in NSW, Australia and beyond - we are so grateful for your continued encouragement and support. 

Let's continue to get excited about cardiac arrest, as we listen to Nat and Cliff discuss all things PEA. 

 

We are delighted to be sponsored by Corpuls - delivering high-tech and innovative equipment for emergency and intensive care medicine for over 35 years.

G'day, and welcome back to the Sydney HEMS Debrief podcast. 

Today, we re-introduce some more general pre-hospital retrieval medicine matters, and what could be more retrieval medicine than a pre-hospital thoracotomy.

Joining the pod today, we have Dr Ian Ferguson and CCP Chris Ennis who together discuss their recently published research paper on this HALO procedure. 

This case series reviews all cases of pre-hospital resuscitative thoracotomy undertaken from 1st Jan 2013 until 31st December 2024, within the NSW physician-CCP pre-hospital system. In concert with recently published data from the London team, Ian, Chris and Sam, discuss the nuances of this procedure - the why, the when and the unexpected survivors observed within the Sydney study cohort. 

Too, we discuss the use of ultrasound in this patient cohort and the importance of the 'everything else' beyond the procedure itself. 

A reference of the full text is below, and as ever please do share with your peers and network. 

Chat soon.

 

Ennis C, Tant J, Burns B, Oliver H, Ostrowski K, Oliver M, Kruit N, Ferguson I. Pre-Hospital Resuscitative Thoracotomy Performed in New South Wales, Australia: A Case-Series. Emerg Med Australas. 2025 Dec;37(6):e70186. doi: 10.1111/1742-6723.70186. PMID: 41362072.

G'day, and thanks for tuning in to another episode of the HEMS Debrief podcast - this is our focused series on cardiac arrest. 

Today we are joined by Canadian Physician-Researcher Dr Brian Grunau. Brian is an Assistant Professor at the University of British Columbia Department of Emergency Medicine and works clinically as an Emergency Physician at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver, Canada. His research investigates methods to improve outcomes from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, and in so doing he has received over $15 million in research funding and published over 190 peer-reviewed articles. Brian is a member of the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR) Advanced Life Support Task Force, which creates resuscitation treatment recommendations. 

In today's episode, we specifically quiz Brian on the time dependent yields of conventional resuscitation vs eCPR initiation, as well as how a system can best promote cardiac arrest research at every step of the chain of survival. 

Thanks as ever for listening!

 

As we move deeper into 2026, the podcast will re-introduce episodes on more general Retrieval / Aeromedical topics, addressing both the technical and non-technical of this fascinating and challenging speciality. Do hit subscribe to stay up to date! And as ever, thank you for listening. 

We are delighted to be sponsored by Corpuls - delivering high-tech and innovative equipment for emergency and intensive care medicine for over 35 years.

G'day and welcome back to the HEMS debrief podcast. 

It is 2026, and we are kicking off with an episode of the cardiac arrest mini-series dedicated to paediatric cardiac arrest. 

Sadly Nat could not join, so instead Sam alone is in conversation with Dr Janice Tijssen.

Janice is a paediatric critical care physician from London, Ontario. Having trained in London (Ontario) and Toronto, Janice is now a member of the Paediatric Life Support Taskforce for the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR) and is the medical director for her hospital's Paediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) education program. Too, Janice leads her hospital's Paediatric Critical Care Outreach Team (PCCOT).

In this episode, we reflect on the changes in the recent ILCOR guidelines around paediatric cardiac arrest, as well as deep dive into some of the physiology of the arrested paediatric patient, asking both how can we prevent arrest, and how can we optimise the arrested physiology to best achieve sustained ROSC.

We sure hope you enjoy this episode, there is a lot in here for any paediatric critical care provider. 

 

As we move deeper into 2026, the podcast will re-introduce episodes on more general Retrieval / Aeromedical topics, addressing both the technical and non-technical of this fascinating and challenging speciality. Do hit subscribe to stay up to date! And as ever, thank you for listening. 

 

We are delighted to be sponsored by Corpuls - delivering high-tech and innovative equipment for emergency and intensive care medicine for over 35 years.

G'day and welcome back to the HEMS debrief podcast. 

It is 2026, and we are kicking off with an episode of the cardiac arrest mini-series dedicated to paediatric cardiac arrest. 

Sadly Nat could not join, so instead Sam alone is in conversation with Dr Janice Tijssen.

Janice is a paediatric critical care physician from London, Ontario. Having trained in London (Ontario) and Toronto, Janice is now a member of the Paediatric Life Support Taskforce for the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR) and is the medical director for her hospital's Paediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) education program. Too, Janice leads her hospital's Paediatric Critical Care Outreach Team (PCCOT).

In this episode, we reflect on the changes in the recent ILCOR guidelines around paediatric cardiac arrest, as well as deep dive into some of the physiology of the arrested paediatric patient, asking both how can we prevent arrest, and how can we optimise the arrested physiology to best achieve sustained ROSC.

We sure hope you enjoy this episode, there is a lot in here for any paediatric critical care provider. 

 

As we move deeper into 2026, the podcast will re-introduce episodes on more general Retrieval / Aeromedical topics, addressing both the technical and non-technical of this fascinating and challenging speciality. Do hit subscribe to stay up to date! And as ever, thank you for listening. 

 

We are delighted to be sponsored by Corpuls - delivering high-tech and innovative equipment for emergency and intensive care medicine for over 35 years.