Ep 295 - PE, Whole Blood, HEMS and Smarter CPR (March 2026 Round Up)

In this month’s St Emlyn’s podcast, Iain Beardsell and Simon Carley work through some of the most interesting recent posts and papers from the blog. The conversation ranges from the latest pulmonary embolism guidance to the persistent problem of emergency department crowding, and from pre-hospital whole blood to the uneven availability of enhanced critical care across the UK. They also look at whether TOE might help us deliver more effective CPR, why arterial pressure may be a more useful resuscitation target than simply watching compressions, and a remarkable report from Gaza that challenges some long-held assumptions about pericardiocentesis in traumatic tamponade. As ever, the focus is less on simply repeating what the papers say and more on what they mean in practice. Some of the evidence is reassuring, some of it is uncomfortable, and several of the studies raise as many questions as they answer. It is a discussion about uncertainty, physiology, systems and the importance of being willing to change your mind when the evidence does not fit what feels intuitively right. Learning from podcasts? If podcasts form part of your CPD, you can log your listening time across all podcasts on MedPod Learn — not just St Emlyn’s — and generate structured reflection. The app is free to download, includes a one-month free trial, and offers globally adjusted pricing.