Some of the hardest moments in emergency medicine aren’t hard because they’re complicated. They’re hard because they’re rare — and when they arrive, you’re relying on things you last thought about a long time ago.

This final episode in the Best Bits of 2025 series is the “file it away” collection: rare, high-stakes situations where preparation is largely cognitive, decisions are time-critical, and there may be no second chance.

The clips in this episode are drawn from full St Emlyn’s episodes released during 2025 and focus on recognition, decision-making, and human factors in uncommon but consequential scenarios.

In this episode, we explore

How community response and live video have changed what happens before patients reach hospital
Recognising and acting on decompression illness, even when presentations are subtle
Cognitive HALOs — what happens to our thinking in rare, high-acuity situations
Junctional haemorrhage and the role of the abdominal aortic junctional tourniquet
Human decision-making under extreme pressure, illustrated through aviation medicine

This episode is designed to be listened to slowly, and returned to when needed — the kind of learning that pays off long after you first hear it.

Featured episodes

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

Episode 262 — GoodSAM Update with Mark Wilson (London Trauma Conference)
Episode 263 — Hyperbaric Medicine with Jeff Kerrie (London Trauma Conference)
Episode 277 — Cognitive HALOs and Advanced Simulation Training with Halden Hutchinson-Bazely (BASICs)
Episode 273 — Abdominal Aortic Junctional Tourniquet with Ed Barnard
Episode 276 — Ejection Seats and the Injured Pilot with Phil Lucas (BASICs)

All full episodes are available in the podcast feed.

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Ep 282 - Best Bits of 2025 — The Things You’ll Be Glad You Remember

The St.Emlyn’s Podcast