[Part 1] Primary Care Of Snakebite: The First Few Minutes - Dr. Ashima Sharma, Emergency Medicine

With tens of thousands of preventable and treatable deaths occurring due to snake bites every year, the focus for healthcare professionals is on improving awareness, early diagnosis and appropriate initial and definitive management of these cases.

In a first for 10Min CME, we bring to you, 10 minutes a time, the first of this multi-part series with Dr Ashima Sharma. Learn more about the basics of management of a case of snakebite, the initial measures and the means of shifting these patients to higher centres for further therapy if need be.

Dr Ashima is the Professor and Head of the Department of Emergency Medicine, Nizam Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad. Having conducted a number of training sessions and awareness programs on the same, her reputation and domain authority on the management of snake bites in the Indian context precedes her.

Chapters
Primary Care Of Snakebite: The First Few Minutes
00:00 Introduction
00:20 Morbidity and mortality of snake bites
00:36 Epidemiology
01:22 Why not all patients of snake bite reach the hospital?
01:56 The Fab Four Snakes
02:25 Immediate Considerations at Primary Level of Care
02:44 Reassurance
02:52 Signs of sympathetic stimulation
03:14 Differentiating envenomation from anxiety
03:35 Local Examination of the bite site
03:54 Ligatures: To remove or not remove
04:41 When to remove ligatures
04:52 Vascular Access and fluid therapy
05:20 Blood glucose monitoring
05:39 Nil-Per-Oral instructions
05:56 Information from attendants
05:59 Traditional Remedies
06:25 Local infiltration of ASV: A Big no-no
06:54 Marking fang (bite) marks
07:12 Immobilization of affected body part
07:41 Bite marks not visible? What to do?
08:24 Transferring snake bite patient
08:37 Precautions while using a motorbike ambulance
09:10 Removing potential ligature-forming objects
09:40 What if I have ASV at my centre?
10:12 Different presentations of envenomation
11:28 One size fits all!
11:56 Thank you!