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The more we use ketamine, the more we seem to learn about it. Recently, it was discussed that the action of the drug is more than just a NMDA Blockade. The NMDA blockade was originally thought to be the only effect that ketamine had. But this discovery may mean that the drug itself has far more uses than originally thought. Ketamine has a wide variety of uses in EMS and for emergency medicine. Specifically, it is often used as a sedative for RSI. But ketamine can also be used for overall pain control, for sedation of patients experiencing excited delirium, and perhaps most interestingly, ketamine can be used in certain doses to treat depression. (Ketamine Saved Me Blog).

It isn’t too often that we encounter a drug that can be used for so many different illness, and in so many different facets of medicine. For years, ketamine received a bad reputation due to people using the drug recreationally. The side effects of the drug, namely hallucinations and dissociation cause people to take the drug at high volumes, which would lead to heavy sedation or explosive behavior. Ketamine is making a comeback, and is an important tool in our EMS arsenal.

Paper of the week

Ashoor, et al. Effectiveness of different compression-to-ventilation methods for cardiopulmonary resuscitation: A systematic review Resuscitation June 2 2017

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A podcast by the people at Vox.com that discusses the down and dirty of policy making in the United States.

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