>I say we do the LP. Someone comes to the Emergency Department with a
>potential SAH, an emergency condition and we dump the LP to someone
>else and then discharge them when it's normal? I don't understand
>that. What's the big mystery about LP's, why do people back away from
>them so much? I know resources differ from hospital to hospital, but
>why should an LP take longer than 10-15 mins?
>
>Asking the medical team to do the LP is a bit like asking the
>cardiology team to come down and take the troponin bloods.
>
>Jason Carty
>SpR
>NE Thames / Homerton University Hospital (No conflict of interest!)
>
I agree, but I think you'd be hard pressed to find a significant number of UK EDs that would allow it. I think it's as much an uncomfortable feeling that many ED consultants have about the procedure as a realistic argument against it. for those of us with experience of adult/paed LPs the procedure is simple and takes less than 10 minutes, however UK A&E training alone rarely allows you to gain this degree of skill. Mine came from 18 months anaesthetics doing 10+ spinals a day on some lists, and paed EM/ITU in Aus doing around 3 LPs a day.
Anyway, with all the targets it'll be yet another skill that will fall by the wayside...
Fiona Wallace
SG.
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