Airway

On the Obstetric Airway and Other Caffeinated Thoughts by Muhammad Amir Ayub

Another set of notes, on a topic that is dreaded to all who understands it; a failed obstetric airway can easily mean death. I did not include the Difficult Airway Society (DAS) guidelines on the obstetric airway: they are much simplified and are a must read. Now on to coffee talk. Everybody who knows me personally knows that I’m dependent on it (I’ll keep trying to deny it in public).

Around the same time I bought this 16 inch MacBook Pro I decided to buy an electric coffee grinder. Prior to this I manually ground my coffee with a Hario Ceramic Coffee Mill. The grinder was obviously good in burning calories (you can never burn enough), but the problem is the long grinding times required to make my batches of coffee; if I decided to relax while grinding, the times required may take up to 30 minutes (I will make typically 3 batches per bag of 226 g bag of coffee); if I rush it I could push it to minimum 20 minutes. That’s a long time to spend only watching YouTube while grinding away.

To save time, I eventually settled on the Breville BCG-820 Smart Grinder Pro. I may or may not make a detailed review of this. Why I may skip a review on this is because I bought this to do one thing only: grind my coffee to make my cold brew coffee. And so far I’ve settled on 1 particular setting to do this:

I still get a medium grind with approximately 3 batches per 226 g bag. And woah, 50 seconds is a huge difference versus 20-30 minutes

I still get a medium grind with approximately 3 batches per 226 g bag. And woah, 50 seconds is a huge difference versus 20-30 minutes

I’ve kept to the same formula of making cold brew coffee with dark roast coffee and a Hario Cold Brew coffee bottle. In the past I used their proper “coffee bottle” which is an airtight container. However, after accidentally breaking a couple (don’t ask) and finding none in ready stock in Malaysia at the time, I settled on the alternative, the Hario 600 ml Cold Brew Coffee Pot. The recipe is simple:

  1. Fill up with grounds; it should be pretty full

  2. Fill up with water, almost full

  3. Refrigerate over 24 hours

  4. Pour into a bottle to store. It won't spoil as long as it’s cold.

  5. To drink, dilute it with either water/milk to at least 50% (or even more dilute to those uninitiated to my caffeine requirements)

The jug all filled up and ready to go to the fridge

The jug all filled up and ready to go to the fridge

I love my cold brew coffee being made with dark roast beans. Typically it’ll be the Coffee Bean Espresso/Vienna blends. But it’s nearing the Christmas Holidays…

…And my number 1 favorite blend is their Holiday Blend. And frankly, for at least 3 years now, every time I’ve seen it in store or on the online store, I would buy every bag. I’d hoard all the bags I could get. Last year, I bought the last bag they had (I knew it as it was no longer sold online as soon as I picked up the bags I ordered for store pickup). This is year is the same; I’ll buy all the bags I can get so that I’ll have supply for months. There was a point when my maniac self would chew on a few of these beans just because. Do you get my point?

I do suggest that you try it out if you love coffee. If you can find one.

Unfinished Stuff Before Exams by Muhammad Amir Ayub

There's no more time to make new notes, and my eyes and brain can't seem to even read (let alone try to memorize) anything new. These are some topics that I couldn't finish in time, and I'll get to them after the exams (if I don't commit harakiri first):

PONV Prevention and Management

Identifying the Difficult Airway

CVS Evaluation & Management for Non-Cardiac Surgery

Diagnosis and Classification of Acute Kidney Injury

Canadian C-Spine Rule by Muhammad Amir Ayub

Understanding cervical trauma is understanding airway management, and is needed in managing trauma patients in the ICU. Hence at least understanding the unapologetic Canadian C-Spine Rule.