There is so much literature to sift through each year, it becomes nearly impossible to stay abreast of it. Here is a quick summary of the 6 must-know Emergency Medicine pharmacotherapy articles from 2014, in my humble opinion.
At the 2014 American College of Emergency Physicians Scientific Assembly, ACEP passed Resolution 44, officially recognizing Emergency Medicine Pharmacists as valuable members of the EM team. Nadia Awad (@Nadia_EMPharmD) summarized the importance of the resolution’s passage on the EMPharmD blog. The role of an EM Pharmacist has been outlined by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP). In addition, Zlatan Coralic (@ZEDPharm), one of ALiEM’s regular contributors, framed the EM Pharmacist as the ‘ultimate consult service.’ The intent behind this post is not to discuss the role of the EM Pharmacist, but to highlight the rigorous training process through which most EM Pharmacists have traversed to work in this amazing specialty.
Traditional teaching recommends naloxone doses of at least 0.4 mg IV to reverse opioid toxicity. Drs. Lewis Nelson (@LNelsonMD) and Mary Ann Howland (@Howland_Ann) co-authored the opioid antagonist chapter in Goldfrank’s Toxicologic Emergencies.1 They write:
“However, this dose [0.4 mg] in an opioid-dependent patient usually produces withdrawal, which should be avoided if possible. The goal is to produce a spontaneously and adequately ventilating patient without precipitating significant or abrupt opioid withdrawal. Therefore, 0.04 mg is a practical starting dose in most patients, increasing to 0.4 mg, 2 mg, and finally 10 mg.”
A 71 year old female presents to the ED with lethargy, fever (39.5 C), and tachypnea (RR 28 rpm). She has a long-standing history of myasthenia gravis (MG) for which she receives periodic IVIG infusions. She is accompanied by her son, who informs you that she had a recent 10-day hospital stay for weakness. A CXR reveals an infiltrate in the left lower lobe.
The decision is made to initiate antimicrobial therapy for presumed healthcare-associated pneumonia. But, which antibiotics are safe to use in a patient with severe MG?
With several new diabetes medications available, it is important to know which ones are likely to cause hypoglycemia after overdose. Based on mechanism of action and reported cases, the likelihood of hypoglycemia after overdose is listed below by drug class. 1
Keep in mind that other drugs can interact with antidiabetic medications resulting in hypoglycemia. The following table applies only to single agent ingestion/administration.
In 2014 we published a list of the Most Followed #FOAMed Twitter Users (FOAM = Free Open Access Meducation). One observation, keenly pointed out by Dr. Nikita Joshi (@njoshi8), was the lack of female representation on the list. Separately, Dr. Esther Choo (@choo_ek) published a blog post entitled Women in Emergency Medicine Who Give Great Talks. As a follow up to our original post, here are the most ‘followed’ women on Twitter in the FOAM world.
In my 10+ years working in the ED, I’ve come across a few online FOAM resources (Free Open Access Meducation) that are essential to my practice. Inspired by ALiEM’s new How I Work Smarter series, I wanted to share these free tools in the hope that they may help you work smarter too, regardless of what your role is in the emergency management of patients.