“There is no minor surgery. Minor surgery is surgery someone else has…”
Judy Melinek
Hartmanns is the Ferrari of IV fluids. Essentially, it is a posh version of normal saline, containing sodium chloride, sodium lactate, potassium chloride and calcium chloride. It is indicated for fluid resuscitation after blood loss , trauma, and surgery, maintaining a more stable blood pH than normal saline. Hartmanns is a favourite go to for anaesthetists, and indeed rarely available outside of theatre. It is considered too complex and expensive for surgeons to have access to. I always pointed out to my medical students the irony this was, given the solution had been developed by a surgeon in the first place, the same guy that pioneered a lifesaving technique for emergency protosigmoidectomy, the Hartmann’s procedure. Well old dogs can learn new tricks. It appears that Alexis Hartmann born in 1898 was an American Paediatrician, who added lactate to the Ringers solution. Henri Albert Hartmann born in 1860 was a French Surgeon who developed the colonic surgery. Apologies all. #hartmannwithtwons #letsmakelemonade
Pen Paint and Scalpel 