November 2010



MedEd Portal

Human Patient Simulation

• Title: Aortic Aneurysm

• Target Audience: Medical Students, Interns, Residents

• Learning Objectives:

- Primary:

– Timely diagnosis of a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm

- Secondary:

– Recognize an acute abdomen

– Create a thorough differential for abdominal pain in the elderly population

– Use of ultrasound to assist in speedy diagnosis

– Discuss with family the prognosis regarding diagnosis while coordinating care

- Critical Actions Checklist

 Intravenous access (IV)

 Oxygen (O2)

 Monitor

 Recognize b blocker suppressed tachycardia

 Focused Abdominal Sonography in Trauma + (FAST)

 Call for immediate blood – emergent O- and type and cross multiple units

 Stat portable Chest X-ray (CXR)

 Show correct technique for ultrasounding and measuring aorta

 Transfuse and bolus for goal Systolic Blood Pressure (SBP) 90-100

 Call for surgeon

 Discuss risks and benefits with family while managing patient, if possible appoint a person to keep the family updated while you run the code

 Overall timely diagnosis and efficient coordination of care

• Environment:

- Environment – General Tertiary Care Center

- Manikin Set Up – IV’s, Monitor, Code Cart

- Props – Ultrasound Machine, Ultrasound imaging handouts, Electrocardiogram (EKG), CXR

- Distractors – Multiple family members appropriately wishing to be updated and decide on care

• Actors: (All roles may be played by residents participating)

- Resident Leader

- 2 Nurses (one be designated to help care for family)

- 2 family members who deliberate over care and diagnosis

- On call surgeon

• Case Narrative:

- Chief Complaint – Flank and abdominal pain

- History

– Patient is a 72 year old male who presents to the Emergency Department (ED) with his son from the golf course for evaluation of left flank and abdominal pain. He thinks he may have a kidney stone again or pulled a muscle swinging his golf club, but the pain is more severe, getting worse, and he feels like he is going to pass out.

- Additional history given only if asked

– He has had similar pain over the past few weeks, but it was not this intense and did not last this long. He has not followed up with his regular doctor in a year

- Past Medical History

– Hypertension (HTN), Hyperlipidemia (HLP), Diabetes Mellitus (DM)

- Social History

– He played golf 2-3 times a week and is a retired banker. He has 2-3 drinks per day and quit smoker 10 years ago

- Meds

– Metoprolol, Clonidine, Lisinopril, Atorvastatin, Docusate (Colace), Metformin, Insulin

- Surgical History

– No prior surgeries

- Allergies

– No known drug allergies

- ROS

– Intermittent abdominal pain for the past few weeks

– No diarrhea, dark or bloody stools

– No difficulty urinating

– No chest pain or shortness of breath

– No weight loss

– No itching

– No chronic back pain

– No focal weakness or numbness

- Pertinent Physical Exam Findings

– Heart Rate 88, Blood Pressure 78/52, Oxygen – 98%, Respiratory Rate – 28, Temperature 98.2 F, Glucose - 117

– General - Elderly male who appears in distress, moaning and in moderate to severe pain while grabbing his abdomen.

– Cardiac – regular rhythm and rate with no murmurs, rubs, or gallops. Symmetric, but weak, femoral and lower extremity pulses.

– Respiratory - tachypnea, but clear to auscultation bilaterally

– Abdominal – diffuse tenderness to palpation, but most in the periumbilcal region. There is a palpable pulsatile abdominal mass. (The participant must specifically ask if there is a pulsatile mass.)

– Back - Mild right costovertebral angle tenderness to palpation

– Skin - pale and diaphoretic

– Musculoskeletal – no gross deformities

– Neurologically intact

- Scenario Branch Points

– The patient presents to the Emergency Department with increasing abdominal pain, hypotension and a regular heart rate. The resident should quickly recognize abnormal vital signs and intervene with IV, O2, monitor, and intravenous fluids (IVF) resuscitations. The resident needs to do a focused exam to quickly suspect abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) with rupture. The resident may use ultrasound to diagnose an enlarged aneurysm with free fluid in Morrison's Pouch. The resident should make immediate interventions including calling the vascular surgeon, blood bank (need to specify type O non cross matched blood initially or there will be a delay in obtaining blood), and alerting the operating room (OR). The resident will need to perform the above tasks while notifying the patient and family of the prognosis and would do well to assign a nurse to take care of family while the resident runs the medical situation.

– If the above tasks are not performed within approximately 15 minutes of the case, the patient will decompensate in the ED. The patient will become hypotense, lose consciousness, need to be intubated, given large volume unmatched blood, and vasopressors initiated to titrate for SBP 90-100.

– The patient will not die in the case, but instead will survive long enough to make it to the OR.

• Instructors Notes:

- Tips to Keep the Scenario Flowing

– The goal of the case is early intervention of a rupturing AAA. The resident will facilitate this process through timely diagnosis and coordination of care. The simulation should only take approximately 10 minutes.

– The patient needs to be in so much pain that he is unable to give a full and thorough history.

– Encourage the resident to properly use staff to coordinate care.

• Grab the ultrasound machine that will be out of the simulation room.

• Someone to call the blood bank, surgeon, and OR

• Have nurse recruit help for IV’s

• Have the intern place the central venous line.

• Have a nurse talk with family through the case after the resident gets initial information from them.

– After 10-15 minutes, make the patient decompensate if the critical actions have not been met to transport the patient to the OR

– Allow one round of ACLS

– The patient will respond to vasopressors with an increasing SBP and return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC).

- Tips to Direct Actors

– The family members should be persistent regarding wanting to know the diagnosis. The resident needs to not only manage the patient’s stressful diagnosis, but also very concerned family members.

– Nurses will be new graduates and need specific instructions on interventions (drug dosages, IVF on pressure bags instead of pumps, large bore IV’s, how to attach the defibrillator monitor, etc..)

- Scenario Steps

– Optimal Management Path

• Early treatment of ruptured AAA

• Complete critical actions and patient goes to the OR

• Facilitate excellent communication with the family

– Potential Complications Path

• No timely diagnosis

• Patient becomes hypotensive and lose pulses

• Patient needs ACLS x 1 round

– Potential Errors Path

• Surgery not consulted immediately

• Patient sent to computerized tomography (CT) scan

o Patient will have cardiac arrest if this occurs

• Incorrect diagnosis and patient will have cardiac arrest

- Imaging and Labs

– CXR – within normal limits (wnl), no widened mediastinum

– CBC 16>7/23 ................
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