The New England Journal of Medicine in their Videos in Clinical Medicine section have released a video that covers performing a thoracentesis.
Thoracentesis is used diagnostically to establish the cause of a pleural effusion. It can also be performed to drain large effusions that lead to respiratory compromise.
Topics covered in the video include:
- Indications
- Contraindications
- Equipment
- Preparation
- Pleural fluid aspiration
- plural fluid analysis
- Complications
The video is 8 mins 51 seconds in length and can be viewed and downloaded at the NEJM (you will need to be a registered user or active subscriber to view). The video also has a PDF summary to accompany it.
Some previous Videos in Clinical Medicine include arterial line insertion, nasogastric tube insertion and lumbar puncture.
Feel free to contact me if you would like more info on these great learning/teaching tools.
Filed under: Education
