A 25 year old cyclist fell of his cycle at high speed and was found unconscious. In the Emergency Department initial observations are pulse 108/minute, blood pressure 100/60 mm Hg, saturation 89% on 15 litres/min oxygen via face mask. He is unconscious, tachypnoeic but has symmetrical chest movement, what would be the immediate management of this patient?
What would be the immediate management of this patient?
Disclaimer: the viva stem above may be an original CICM stem, acquired from their publicly available past papers. Or, perhaps it is a slightly altered version of the original CICM stem. Or, it is a completely original viva stem, concocted by the monstrously amoral author of Deranged Physiology for nothing more than his own personal amusement. In either case, because the college do not make the main viva text or marking criteria available, almost everything here has been confabulated. It might sound like a plausible viva and it could be used for the purpose of practice, but all should be aware that it does not represent the "true" canonical CICM viva station.