Emergency medicine strips decision-making back to its essentials when departments are full and time is short.

This first episode in the Best Bits of 2025 series brings together some of the most practically useful moments from the St Emlyn’s podcast this year — focusing on how clinicians make good decisions under pressure, when conditions are far from ideal.

Each clip comes from a full episode released in 2025.

In this episode, we explore:

How ten-second triage is designed to work on “worst-day” scenarios, not in textbooks

The uncomfortable truth about why procedures sometimes get done — and why that matters

Why time, not technique, is often the limiting factor in resuscitative thoracotomy

The case for earlier invasive monitoring in the sickest patients

Where thinking around double sequential defibrillation may be heading

This episode is designed to be useful on shift, in the car, or during a quiet moment before the next job.

Featured episodes

Clips in this episode are taken from the following full St Emlyn’s episodes:

Episode 257 — Ten Second Triage with Sean Brayford-Harris (Tactical Trauma 24)

Episode 269 — Monthly Round Up (January 2025): Decision-making and prehospital RSI

Episode 270 — Insights on Cannabis Edibles, Pre-Hospital Thoracotomy and more

Episode 266 — Monthly Round Up (February 2025): Targeted resuscitation and arterial lines

Episode 268 — Top Papers of 2024 from The Big Sick Conference

All full episodes are available in the podcast feed.

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