Articles on resuscitation, airway, circulation, paediatric emergencies and emergency drugs – reviewed by a physician.
Printed pocket handbooks and emergency medicine apps have different strengths, and what matters in the field is which medium leads to the right information more quickly and safely in a given situation. Using concrete examples, this article shows where paper has the edge, where the app calculates with the exact body weight and which checks neither medium can take over.
7 min read
Rapid sequence induction is a high-risk procedure that is performed more safely when preparation, team roles and the airway plan are agreed before the first drug is given. This article summarises the RSI procedure, the checklist, drugs with doses according to the summary of product characteristics and the Plan A to C airway strategy for clinical practice.
7 min read
Adrenaline (epinephrine) is the central drug in the treatment of anaphylaxis. This article summarises dosing by age and weight, the repeat interval, the criteria for intravenous administration and adjunctive therapy for clinical use.
6 min read
Noradrenaline is the standard vasopressor in the emergency department, resuscitation room, operating theatre and intensive care unit, yet errors frequently arise where dilution, infusion rate and vascular access meet. This article sets out the standard dilution, a weight-based infusion rate table and the key safety rules for the noradrenaline syringe pump.
7 min read
A syringe pump delivers a dose only as accurately as it was calculated, and unit or decimal-point errors can quickly lead to a tenfold dosing error. This article sets out a consistent method for calculating the infusion rate, typical sources of error and a practical double-check.
7 min read
Choosing tube size and insertion depth is one of the most error-prone steps in paediatric intubation, particularly under emergency time pressure. This article explains how the common formulas for cuffed and uncuffed tubes are constructed, where they fall short, and which checks confirm an estimate.
7 min read
In paediatric emergencies, drugs, fluid volumes, defibrillation energy and ventilation all depend on body weight. This article shows how the APLS age-based formulae estimate weight, where their limitations lie and which alternatives take priority.
7 min read
Adrenaline is the key vasopressor in advanced life support, and the ERC 2025 guidelines distinguish clearly between shockable and non-shockable rhythms for timing and between adults and children for dosing. This article summarises dose, timing and weight-based paediatric dosing, and sets out the most common sources of error.
6 min read
The ERC Guidelines 2025 refine the adult ALS algorithm and introduce several specific changes to newborn resuscitation compared with 2021. This overview sets out the points relevant to practice so that teams can review their standards, checklists and training.
8 min read
In prehospital emergency medicine, in the resuscitation room and during induction of anaesthesia, an emergency app is useful only if it delivers a dose quickly, traceably and with its source; the range of features matters less. This article sets out verifiable requirements for an emergency app for doctors: weight-based dosing, concentrations, references, guideline status, reliability and the differences between Austria and Germany.
7 min read
