Gastroenterology
Best Case Ever 51 – Anticoagulants and GI Bleed with Walter Himmel
In anticipation of Episode 88 and 89: DOACs Use, Misuse and Reversal with the president of Thrombosis Canada and world renowned thrombosis researcher Dr. Jim Douketis, internist and thrombosis expert Dr. Benjamin Bell and 'The Walking Encyclopedia of EM' Dr. Walter Himmel, we have Dr. Himmel telling us the story of his Best Case Ever on anticoagulants and GI bleed. He discusses the most important contraindication to DOACs, the importance of not only attempting to reverse the effects of anticoagulants in a bleeding patient but managing the bleed itself as well as more great pearls. In the upcoming episodes we'll run through 6 cases and cover the clinical use of DOACs, how they work, safety, indications, contraindications, management of minor, moderate and severe bleeding, the new DOAC reversal agents, management of DVT with DOAC anticoagulants, stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation with DOACs and much more...
Episode 47: Evidence Based Medicine from NYGH EMU Conference 2014
Dr. Walter Himmel (the 'walking encyclopedia of EM') gave a fantastic talk from North York General's Emergency Medicine Update Conference in Toronto, which have edited into a podcast with key commentary and summaries. Dr. Himmel eloquently shows us, through absolutely stunning personal cases, how evidence based medicine can be appropriately or inappropriately applied in real practice, resulting in major outcome differences for your patients. He elucidates the importance of clinical experience, patient values and ED resources in helping apply the medical literature to your practice. He reviews the essence of critical appraisal, the hierarchy of evidence and how to keep up with the emergency medicine literature. The famous NINDS thrombolysis for stroke trial is distilled down to a few key considerations and the NEJM transfusion for upper GI bleed trial from last year is dissected, analyzed and then applied to Dr. Himmel's personal cases, to help us understand exactly how to apply the literature to our daily practice. Blog post and written summary prepared by Keerat Grewal, edited by Anton Helman July 2014
Episode 43 – Appendicitis Controversies
In this episode on Appendicitis Controversies, we have the continuation of our discussion on abdominal pain emergencies with Dr. Brian Steinhart & Dr. David Dushenski. We kick off the discussion with key clinical pearls and pitfalls in the history and physical exam with their respective liklihood ratios when assessing patients with abdominal pain for appendicitis - a diagnosis that is still sometimes missed despite its prevalence. Dr. Dushenski hacks apart the Alvarado and Appendicitis Inflammatory Response Scores and we discuss the value of WBC, CRP and urinalysis in the work-up of appendicitis. Next up are the controversies of imaging algorithms using ultrasound and CT abdomen, as well as the factors affecting which imaging algorithm you might pursue. We wrap up the discussion on Appendicitis Controversies with a critical look at the value of antibiotics in the ED for appendicitis and which patients might be appropriate for non-surgical management.
Episode 42: Mesenteric Ischemia and Pancreatitis
In this episode Dr. Steinhart, (one of my biggest mentors – the doc that everyone turns to when no one can figure out what’s going on with a patient in the ED), & Dr. Dave Dushenski, (a master of quality assurance and data analysis, who would give David Newman a run for his money), discuss the 4 diagnoses that make up the deadly & difficult diagnosis of Mesenteric Ischemia, it’s key historical and physical exam features, the value of serum lactate, D-dimer & blood gas, when CT can be misleading, ED management of Mesenteric Ischemia, the difficult post-ERCP abdominal pain patient, the pitfalls in management of Pancreatitis, the BISAP score for Pancreatitis compared to the APACHE ll & Ranson Score, the comparative value of amylase and lipase, ultrasound vs CT for pancreatitis and much more…
Best Case Ever 21 Abdominal Pain – Thinking Outside the Box
As a bonus to Episode 42 on Mesenteric Ischemia & Pancreatitis, Dr. Brian Steinhart presents his Best Case Ever of Abodominal Pain – Thinking Outside the Box. While about 10% of abdominal pain presentations to the ED are surgical, there are a variety of abdominal pain presentations that have diagnoses outside the abdomen – so one needs to be thinking outside the box. In the related episode, Dr. Steinhart, (one of my biggest mentors – the doc that everyone turns to when no one can figure out what’s going on with a patient in the ED), & Dr. Dave Dushenski, (a master of quality assurance and data analysis, who would give David Newman a run for his money), discuss the 4 diagnoses that make up the deadly & difficult diagnosis of Mesenteric Ischemia, it’s key historical and physical exam features, the value of serum lactate, D-dimer & blood gas, when CT can be misleading, ED management of Mesenteric Ischemia, the difficult post-ERCP abdominal pain patient, the pitfalls in management of Pancreatitis, the BISAP score for Pancreatitis compared to the APACHE ll & Ranson Score, the comparative value of amylase and lipase, ultrasound vs CT for pancreatitis and much more…
Episode 34: Geriatric Emergency Medicine
In this episode Dr. Don Melady, Canada's leading educator in Geriatric Emergency Medicine (Geri-EM) & Dr. Jaques Lee, one of Canada's leading researchers in Geri-EM, discuss the common yet challenging Geriatric Emergencies: a practical approach to geriatric Delirium, best practice for managing agitation and pain in the older patient, management of recurrent falls, pearls in the assessment of the 'Weak & Dizzy' geriatric patient, atypical presentations of common life threatening emergencies including ACS and surgical abdomen, key drug interactions in the geriatric patient and more..
