Episode 102 GI Bleed Emergencies Part 2

In Part 2 of our two part podcast on GI Bleed Emergencies Anand Swaminathan and Salim Rezaie kick off with a discussion on the evidence for benefit of various medications in ED patients with upper GI bleed. PPIs, somatostatin analogues such as Octreotide, antibiotic prophylaxis and prokinetics have varying degrees of benefit, and we should know which ones to prioritize. We then discuss the usefulness of the Glasgow-Blatchford and Rockall scores for risk stratification and disposition of patient with upper GI bleeds and hit it home with putting it all together in a practical algorithm. Enjoy!

Episode 101 GI Bleed Emergencies Part 1

In this Part 1 of our two part podcast on GI bleed emergencies we answer questions such as: How do you distinguish between an upper vs lower GI bleed when it's not so obvious clinically? What alterations to airway management are necessary for the GI bleed patient? What do we need to know about the value of fecal occult blood in determining whether or not a patient has a GI bleed? Which patients require red cell transfusions? Massive transfusion? Why is it important to get a fibrinogen level in the sick GI bleed patient? What are the goals of resuscitation in a massive GI bleed? What's the evidence for using an NG tube for diagnosis and management of upper GI bleeds?  In which patients should we give tranexamic acid and which patients should we avoid it in? How are the indications for massive transfusion in GI bleed different to the trauma patient? What are your options if the bleeding can't be stopped on endoscopy? and many more...

Journal Jam 6 – Outpatient Topical Anesthetics for Corneal Abrasions

This is EM Cases Journal Jam Podcast 6 - Outpatient Topical Anesthetics for Corneal Abrasions. I’ve been told countless times by ophthalmologists and other colleagues NEVER to prescribe topical anesthetics for corneal abrasion patients, with the reason being largely theoretical - that tetracaine and the like will inhibit re-epithelialization and therefore delay epithelial healing as well as decrease corneal sensation, resulting in corneal ulcers. With prolonged use of outpatient topical anesthetics for corneal abrasions, corneal opacification could develop leading to decreased vision. Now this might be true for the tetracaine abuser who pours the stuff in their eye for weeks on end, but when we look at the literature for toxic effects of using topical anesthetics in the short term, there is no evidence for any clinically important detrimental outcomes. Should we ignore the dogma and use tetracaine anyway? Is there evidence that the use of topical anesthetics after corneal abrasions is safe and effective for pain control without adverse effects or delayed epithelial healing? To discuss the paper "The Safety of Topical Anesthetics in the Treatment of Corneal Abrasions: A Review" by Drs. Swaminathan, Otterness, Milne and Rezaie published in the Journal of Emergency Medicine in 2015, we have EM Cases’ Justin Morgenstern, a Toronto-based EM Doc, EBM enthusiast as well as the brains behind the First10EM blog and Salim Rezaie, Clinical Assistant Professor of EM and Internal Medicine at University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio as well as the Creator & Founder of the R.E.B.E.L. EM blog and REBELCast podcast. In this Journal Jam podcast, Dr. Morgenstern and Dr. Rezaie also discuss a simple approach to critically appraising a systematic review article, how to handle consultants who might not be aware of the literature and/or give you a hard time about your decisions and much more...

Best Case Ever 44 Low Risk Pulmonary Embolism

Dr. Salim Rezaie of R.E.B.E.L. EM tells his Best Case Ever of a Low Risk Pulmonary Embolism that begs us to consider a work-up and management plan that we might not otherwise consider. With new guidelines suggesting that subsegmental pulmonary embolism need not be treated with anticoagulants, exceptions to Well's Score and PERC rule to help guide work-ups, the adaptation of outpatient management of pulmonary embolism, and the option of NOACs for treatment, the management of pulmonary embolism in 2016 has evolved considerably. In which situations would you treat subsegmental pulmonary embolism? How comfortable are you sending patients home with pulmonary embolism? How does the patient's values play into these decisions? Listen to Dr. Rezaie provide an insightlful perspective on these important issues and much more...

Journal Jam 1: Age Adjusted D-dimer with Jeff Kline and Jonathan Kirschner

In this first ever episode of the Journal Jam podcast, a collaboration between EM Cases, Academic Life in EM and The Annals of Emergency Medicine's Global Emergency Medicine Journal Club, Teresa Chan and I, along with Jeff Kline, Jonathan Kirschner, Anand Swaminathan, Salim Rezaie and Sam Shaikh from ALiEM, discuss the potential for Age Adjusted D-dimer to rule out pulmonary embolism in low risk patients over the age of 50. We discuss 4 key questions about the ADJUST-PE Study from JAMA in March 2014 including: Would you order a CTPA on a 60 year old woman with an age adjusted D-dimer of 590 ng/L? The problem until now has been that the older the patient, the more likely the D-dimer is to be positive whether they have a PE or not, so many of us have thrown the D-dimer out the window in older patients and go straight to CTPA, even in low risk patients. If you are a risk averse doc, this strategy will lead to over-utilization of resources, huge costs, length of stay, radiation effects etc; and if you’re not so risk averse, then you might decide not to work up the low risk older patient at all and miss clinically important PEs. expert peer reviewFor all the questions discussed on this podcast, the original Google Hangout interview from which this podcast was based, and the crowd sourced opinions from around world, visit the ALiEM website. Many thanks to all the talented people who made this podcast possible. Together, we're smarter!

Donate Subscribe
Go to Top