Technicalintermediate6 min
The wedge that isn't
Handover
The overnight note says ‘wedge 34, diurese.’ You look at the patient — sitting up, talking, lungs quiet — and then at the PA 36/16. A wedge cannot live above PA diastolic. The tracing is a damped line. Someone treated a balloon, not a left atrium.
Untreated tamponade, massive PE, or a crashed CPO/PAPi will keep dropping MAP and climbing lactate. Name the tracing, then move.
Goals
- · Wedge confirmed
- · True PCWP ≤ 16
- · Overwedge cleared