Hi everyone! This last weekend I took a 3 day class in Toronto entitled "Advanced Cardiac Life Support for Dentists". It was offered by DOCS (I belong to the Dental Organization for Conscious Sedation – www.docseducation.com ) and this is the 3rd 3 day class I have taken from them. The teaching staff was from Life Support Services, Inc., out of Ann Arbor, MI, and they were excellent! (Find them online at: www.LifeSupportServicesInc.com . They handle the emergency medical services for the University of Michigan Hospital, Washtenaw and western Wayne Counties.) The subject of the training were the additional procedures that are recommended by the American Heart Association beyond CPR and AEDs (defibrillators) to support life in the event of a heart attack, stroke, or similar. This included lectures on physiology, pharmacology, diagnosis, as well as intubating/establishing airways with King tubes, accessing EKGs on advanced AEDs with monitoring displays to determine when to shock and when not to, delivery of emergency drugs such as epinephrine, atropine, lidocaine, etc.and all manner of decision making needed in a emergency.
Essentially we were taught to do what paramedics and advanced emergency medics do when they pull up in their ambulances and transport patients to the emergency room. The 3 days consisted of lectures and hands on practice with a computerized dummy who talked, breathed, and had a pulse (sometimes!). It ended with a practical and written exam on which your dentist scored 100%. We plan to continue our training by having them come to our office and spend a day with our entire staff running mock drills and "codes" to make sure we are able to function as a team at the highest level to insure the safety of our patients in the unlikely event of an emergency!
Until next time!
Mark W Langberg, DDS