Cases from the Races by Hinds

John Hinds delivers on his promise of ‘in extremis’ whilst exploring the unique patterns of injury seen in high speed motorcycle trauma. Funny, engaging and relevant to all involved in crit care.

John was an very popular speaker at SMACC Gold, not only for this incredible talk on high speed motorcycle trauma but also for his legendary debate on Cricoid pressure with Brent May.

He is an anaesthetist and intensivist in Northern Ireland and a voluntary pre-hospital doctor, which allows him to indulge in his passion – motorbikes. The lesson I took from this talk is how well drilled teams that work closely together can achieve incredible results.

Here he dispels the myths of anaesthetists having a boring life of propofol, LMAs, coffee and cross words.

I was particularly interested in how he and his team manage traumatic cardiac arrest from high speed motorbike trauma:

No CPR
No Clear Fluids
No IV access
ETT
Bilateral thoracostomies
Pelvic Binder
Reassess

He talks through how he prepares for and delivers Rapid Sequence Induction and intubation in the field when conditions are suboptimal – again lots to be learnt for any crit care environment.

Find out how to remove helmets safely, tricks to saw off the front of a helmet, learn what a speed hump is, why it’s in the wrong place for intubation and how to remove them.

Four mechanisms of concern to look put for in motorbike trauma are: