Ep 287 - Damage Control Pre-hospital Care with Harriet Tucker at Trauma 2030

You’re about to hear a conversation about doing less. But it isn’t really about doing less. It’s about time.

Recorded at Trauma 2030 at the Royal College of Surgeons, this episode explores a shift in mindset in pre-hospital trauma care — away from maximal intervention on scene and towards rapid recognition of the patient who cannot be fixed pre-hospital.

I’m joined by Harriet Tucker — consultant at London’s Air Ambulance, HEMS Governance Lead at Air Ambulance Kent Surrey Sussex, and Trauma Team Leader at St George’s Major Trauma Centre — to talk about damage control pre-hospital care.

We discuss:

Using time as a treatment

Recognising non-compressible haemorrhage

Why one line may be enough

Moving interventions into the ambulance

Changing the pre-alert

The “pit stop” resus

Taking patients straight to theatre

Cultural resistance to doing less