I recently saw this great post on “The Trauma Professional’s Blog” looking at finger thoracostomy.
This article does a great job of looking at the reason’s for and against this procedure to relieve pneumothorax. I also learned a few nice tips to avoid complications from related chest decompression procedures. In fact, we are going to be changing the needle/cath system we are carrying for filed chest decompression to a larger diameter (10 gauge vs. 14 gauge) and longer (3 inch). I also liked the information on the possibility of the catheter to kink once the needle is removed, thereby reproducing the pneumothorax.
http://regionstraumapro.com/post/38306629710
For those who want to see a great video on the procedure: