Emergency Medicine Cases | Online medical education podcast

WTBS 12 – Introducing EM Cases Conflict of Interest Policy

Whenever discussions about conflict of interest (COI) come up, one of the first questions that’s inevitably raised is why are we focusing only on financial conflicts and ignoring all the other kinds. That’s a fair question. What about intellectual conflicts or ones based on political leanings? Why are we implementing a COI policy? Is it really necessary? I thought it best to answer that question by having COI expert Joel Lexchin express his thoughts on this subject for us in this month’s guest post to Waiting to be Seen...

By Dr. Howard Ovens|2017-02-06T16:27:03-05:00February 6th, 2017|Categories: EM Cases, Emergency Medicine, Waiting to be Seen|Tags: COI, Howard Ovens, Joel Lexchin, WTBS|0 Comments

Episode 91 Occult Knee Injuries Pearls and Pitfalls

There are a whole slew of very important occult knee injuries - those that have a normal or near normal x-ray – that can cause serious morbidity if you miss them, and for the catchall soft tissue injuries there are some subtleties in diagnosis and management that will make a real difference to our patients. Arun Sayal and Hossein Mehdian answer questions such as: When should we suspect a spontaneously reduced knee dislocation? Do all patients suspected of a spontaneous knee dislocation require a CT angiogram to rule out vascular injury? Which patients with a low energy mechanism are at risk for knee dislocation and vascular complications? How can you increase the accuracy of the active straight leg raise in assessing for quadriceps and patella tendon rupture? What is an easy way to identify patella baja and patella alta on a knee x-ray? What are the indications for ultrasound of the knee? What are the true indications for a knee immobilizer and how can knee immobilizers kill our patients? and many more...

By Anton Helman|2021-04-02T13:30:58-04:00January 24th, 2017|Categories: EM Cases, Emergency Medicine, Episodes, Orthopaedics, Trauma|Tags: Arun Sayal, Hossein Mehdian, knee dislocation, tibial plateau fracture|1 Comment

Episode 90 – Low and Slow Poisoning

One of the things we need to think about whenever we see a patient who’s going low and slow with hypotension and bradycardia is an overdose. B-blockers, calcium channel blockers (CCB) and digoxin are some of the most frequently prescribed cardiovascular drugs. And inevitably we’re gonna be faced with both intentional and unintentional overdoses from these drugs in the ED. If we can recognize these overdoses early and manage them appropriately, well - we’ll save some lives...

By Anton Helman|2021-03-30T14:37:46-04:00January 3rd, 2017|Categories: EM Cases, Emergency Medicine, Episodes, Medical Specialty, Toxicology|Tags: activated charcoal, b-blocker, CCB, digifab, digoxin, Emily Austin, gastric lavage, high dose insulin, intralipid, lipid emulsion, Margaret Thompson, whole bowel irrigation|4 Comments

EM Cases Best of 2016 Top Ten

The year 2016 was one of the most productive one in the entire 7 year history of EM Cases with a total of 29 podcast releases, the introduction of the CritCases blog, the Q & A Pearl of the Week, Just The Nuggets emails, BEEM Cases, the expansion of the Waiting to Be Seen blog, the second EM Cases Digest ebook and the first ever EM Cases Course. The website was viewed by 227,200 visitors, and podcast downloads totaled a whopping 1,626,190 downloads in 2016, bringing us to over 3.5 million podcast downloads since inception. Based on a blend of the number of podcast downloads, webpage views, social media engagement, scores on the questionnaires at the bottom of each post, number of positive emails and comments that I received, and my own favs, I'm pleased to bring you the EM Cases Best of 2016 Top 10 picks of 2016...

By Anton Helman|2017-02-05T15:06:08-05:00January 3rd, 2017|Categories: EM Cases, Emergency Medicine, News|Tags: alcohol wihdrawal, ALPS trial, anaphylaxis, congenital heart disease, DOACs, hyperkalemia, renal colic, TCA overdose|0 Comments

Best Case Ever 53 – TTP

As EM Cases has grown and expanded over the past 7 years I've had the pleasure of working with a team of talented people. This Best Case Ever was produced by two all-star EM residents from Ottawa, podcaster Dr. Rajiv Vairavanathan and editor Dr. Richard Hoang. In this all-resident Best Case Ever we interview Dr. Chris Belcher from University of Kentucky about TTP - Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura, that rare but often elusive clotting disorder that picks off multiple organs and has a near 100% mortality rate without treatment...

By Anton Helman|2020-05-15T09:16:45-04:00December 20th, 2016|Categories: Best Case Ever, EM Cases, Hematology, Medical Specialty, Resuscitation|Tags: altered mental status, anemia, Christopher Belcher, Rajiv Vairavanathan, schistocytes, thrombocytopenia|1 Comment

Best Case Ever 52 – Pediatric Hypothermia Cardiac Arrest

In anticipation of EM Cases Episode 90 on the Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) guidelines with the lead author Dr. Allan DeCaen and Dr. Anthony Crocco, Dr. DeCaen tells his Best Case Ever showing us the value of orchestrated team work and a great example of the saying, "they're not dead until they're warm and dead"...

By Anton Helman|2016-12-06T16:45:45-05:00December 6th, 2016|Categories: Best Case Ever, Cardiology, EM Cases, Emergency Medicine, Medical Specialty, Pediatrics, Resuscitation|Tags: Allan DeCaen, CPR, ECMO, hypothermia, pediatric arrest|0 Comments

Episode 89 – DOACs Part 2: Bleeding and Reversal Agents

In this Part 2, DOACs Bleeding and Reversal we discuss the management of bleeding in patients taking DOACs with minor risk bleeds, like epistaxis where local control is easy to access, moderate risk bleeds, like stable GI bleeds and high risk bleeds, like intracranial hemorrhage. We answer questions such as: How do we weigh the risks and benefits of stopping the DOAC? When is reversal of the DOAC is advised? How best do we accomplish the reversal of DOACs? Is there any good evidence for the newest reversal agent? When should we stop DOACs for different procedures, and when should we delay the procedure?

By Anton Helman|2021-03-30T14:38:50-04:00December 6th, 2016|Categories: EM Cases, Emergency Medicine, Episodes, Gastroenterology, Hematology, Medical Specialty, Neurology|Tags: abixiban, Andexanet Alfa, dabigitran, epistaxis, GI bleed, ICH, Idarucizumab, Jim Douketis, PCCs, rivaroxiban, Walter HImmel|4 Comments

Episode 88 – DOACs Part 1: Use and Misuse

As we get better at picking up thromboembolic disease, and the indications for Direct Oral Anticoagulants (DOACs) widen, we're faced with increasingly complex decisions about when to start these medications, how to start them, when to stop them and how to manage bleeding associated with them. There’s a lot that we need to know about these drugs to minimize the risk of thromboembolism in our patients while at the same time minimizing their risk of bleeding...

By Anton Helman|2024-08-06T22:19:17-04:00November 22nd, 2016|Categories: Cardiology, EM Cases, Emergency Medicine, Episodes, Hematology, Medical Specialty|Tags: Abixaban, atrial fibrillation, CHADS65, dabigitran, DVT, Jim Douketis, rivaroxiban, Walter HImmel|1 Comment

New EM Cases Feature: Just The Nuggets

We have a brand new free offering to enhance your EM learning: Just The Nuggets, where you receive the key points from the EM Cases main episodes directly into your email inbox. Knowledge comes in little packets. Sign up for Just The Nuggets on The EM Cases Newsletter page.

By Anton Helman|2017-04-25T22:54:24-04:00November 8th, 2016|Categories: EM Cases, News|Tags: EM Cases, FOAM, MedEd, Nuggets|2 Comments

Journal Jam 8 – Dilute Apple Juice for Pediatric Gastroenteritis

This is EM Cases Journal Jam podcast on a randomized control trial of dilute apple juice vs PediaLyte for mild pediatric gastroenteritis. While IV rehydration is required in cases of severe gastroenteritis (which we rarely see in North America) and oral rehydration with electrolyte maintenance solutions is still the mainstay in treating moderate gastroenteritis, could better-tasting, more cost-effective fluids such as diluted apple juice be just as effective as traditional electrolyte solutions in milder cases? Listen to Dr. Justin Morgenstern (@First10EM) interviewing Dr. Stephen Freedman, the world-renowned pediatric EM researcher who put ondansetron for pediatric gastroenteritis on the map and who was one of our guest experts on our main episode on Pediatric Gastroenteritis, Constipation and Bowel Obstruction, about this practice-changing paper. This is followed by a hilarious rant on the topic from Dr. Anthony Crocco ("Ranthony"), the Division head and medical director of pediatric EM at Hamilton Health Sciences.

By Anton Helman|2018-12-21T19:20:46-05:00November 8th, 2016|Categories: EM Cases, Emergency Medicine, Gastroenterology, Journal Jam, Medical Specialty, Pediatrics|Tags: Anthony Crocco, dehydration, gastroenteritis, Justin Morgenstern, pediatlyte, Stephen Freedman|1 Comment