EM Cases emergency medicine education podcast
This is the first ever video podcast on EM Cases with Jordan Chenkin from EMU Conference 2017 discussing how to optimize three aspects of cardiac arrest care: persistent ventricular fibrillation, optimizing pulse checks and PEA arrest, with code team videos contrasting the ACLS approach to an optimized approach...
Management of the pediatric trauma patient is challenging regardless of where you work. In this EM Cases episode, with the help of two leading pediatric trauma experts, Dr. Sue Beno from Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto and Dr. Faud Alnaji from Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario in Ottawa we answer such questions as: what are the most important physiologic and anatomic differences between children and adults that are key to managing the trauma patient? How much fluid should be given prior to blood products? What is the role of POCUS in abdominal trauma? Which patients require abdominal CT? How do you clear the pediatric c-spine? Are atropine and fentanyl recommended as pre-induction agents in the pediatric trauma patient? How can the BIG score help us prognosticate? Is tranexamic acid recommended in early pediatric trauma like it is in adults? Is the Pediatric Trauma Score helpful in deciding which patients should be transferred to a trauma center? and many more...
Airway management requires a lot things; it requires not only technical skills and specific considerations of anatomy and physiology but a co-ordinated team who can communicate clearly and react to a whole slew of potentially challenging situations. On this month's Best Case Ever podcast we use the framework of a new mnemonic PREPARE to discuss human factors, situational awareness and some airway tips and tricks with intensivist Peter Brindley, human factors expert Chris Hicks and EM-intensivist Sara Gray...
In 2014, the CDC reported that UTI antibiotic treatment was avoidable at least 39% of the time. Why? Over-diagnosis and treatment results from the fact that asymptomatic bacteriuria is very common in all age groups, urine cultures are frequently ordered without an appropriate indication, and urinalysis results are often misinterpreted. Think of the last time you prescribed antibiotics to a patient for suspected UTI – what convinced you that they had a UTI? Was it their story? Their exam? Or was it the urine dip results the nurse handed to you before you saw them? Does a patient’s indwelling catheter distort the urinalysis? How many WBCs/hpf is enough WBCs to call it a UTI? Can culture results be trusted if there are epithelial cells in the specimen? Can a “dirty” urine in an obtunded elderly patient help guide management?...
In this month's Best Case Ever on EM Cases Dr. Ross Claybo and Dr. Keerat Grewal tell the story of a patient with a complicated anion gap metabolic acidosis. We discuss how to sort through the differential diagnosis with a better mnemonic than MUDPILES, the controversy around administering sodium bicarbonate for metabolic acidosis, the indications for fomepizole and the value of taking time to to build a therapeutic relationship with your ED patients...
In this CritCases blog - a collaboration between STARS Air Ambulance Service, Mike Betzner and EM Cases we discuss a challenging case of pulmonary hypertension where a fine balance in volume resuscitation, oxygenation and ventilation is critical.
I remember when I started practicing emergency medicine a decade and a half ago it seemed that any kid who came to our ED in cardiac arrest died. I know, depressing thought. But, over the past 15 years, survival to discharge from pediatric cardiac arrest has markedly improved, at least for in-hospital arrests. This is probably mostly due to an emphasis on high-quality CPR and advances in post-resuscitation care; nonetheless the more comfortable, knowledgeable and prepared we are for the always scary critically ill pediatric patient, the more likely we will be able to resuscitate them successfully - which is always a huge save.
In anticipation of the upcoming EM Cases main episode on Pediatric Polytrauma Dr. Suzanne Beno, Co-director of the Trauma Program at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, tells her Best Case Ever of a child who suffers a severe traumatic head injury with signs of raised intracranial pressure and cerebral herniation. She discusses the importance of being vigilant when presented with classic patterns of injury, the use of hypertonic saline, crisis resource management and shared decision making with consultants...
While missing aortic dissection was considered "the standard" in the late 20th century, our understanding of the clinical diagnoses has improved considerably since the landmark International Registry of Aortic Dissection (IRAD) study in 2000. Nonetheless, aortic dissection remains difficult to diagnosis with 1 in 6 being missed at the initial ED visit. With the help of Dr. David Carr we’ll discuss how to pick up atypical presentations of aortic dissection without over-imaging as well as manage them like pros by reviewing: 1. The 5 Pain Pearls, 2. The concepts of CP +1 and 1+ CP, 3. Physical exam pearls, 4. CXR pearls and blood test pitfalls, and 5. The importance of the correct order and aggressive use of IV medications. So with these objectives in mind…
In this EM Cases CritCases blog - a collaboration with STARS Air Ambulance Service, Mike Betzner, we present a challenging airway obstruction case, the limitations of non-rebreather masks, using PEEP on bag-valve-masks, heliox, tips on awake intubation, and the differential for high peak inspiratory pressures in the post intubation period. With commentary by Michael Betzner and Reuben Strayer as well as expert peer review by George Kovacs...