Patwari Academy videos: Respiratory failure and ventilators
Dr. Rahul Patwari reviews the basics of respiratory physiology, the pathophysiology behind respiratory failure, and ventilator management. What do all the ventilator settings mean?
Dr. Rahul Patwari reviews the basics of respiratory physiology, the pathophysiology behind respiratory failure, and ventilator management. What do all the ventilator settings mean?
Is the physical exam a relic of the past, because our tools are relics of a prior era?It is important to do and teach a thorough physical exam. I cautioned against the overreliance on diagnostic testing in lieu of a physical exam, which can be initially burdensome and prolonged. But perhaps our difficulty with the physical exam is not the exam itself, but the tools that we have at our disposal to perform an exam, rather than the exam itself.

Suppose you have a patient in whom you highly suspect a pulmonary embolism (PE) that devolves into PEA arrest while awaiting a CT angiogram. Or, what about a patient with an ECG showing clear STEMI that loses pulses?
There was recently a great study published in the American Journal of Cardiology (2012) by Sharifi et al1, questioning whether we should be considering tPA in patients other than those patients with massive pulmonary embolism (PE)? You know the big “Saddle Embolus” we all fear? Well it turns out this is only about 5% of all PEs.
Should we be considering tPA in patients with sub-massive PEs?
For many of us in academia and medical education, we accomplish a tremendous amount of work outside of the workplace. This can be in our home office, on the public transit system, or in the library.
Interestingly, creative cognition occurs best with a moderate amount of ambient noise (not too much and not too little), according to a 2012 article from Journal of Consumer Research.
(more…)It’s all about luck, opportunity, and timing.
I will be releasing the blog’s first ever Paucis Verbis (PV) native app this year. After a few years of brainstorming and lots of reader inquiries about an app, we were approached by two different app-building companies in the same week. I’m incredibly humbled to be approached by organizations, who can see the potential of these pocket cards (which started as actual index cards while I was in residency). It is an incredibly exciting time to be in the world of education and social media!
I need your help with step 1.

In the third and fourth video in the Trauma series (first two videos = primary and secondary survey), Dr. Rahul Patwari discusses about chest trauma, divided into blunt and penetrating mechanisms. What is “the box” that everyone keeps referring to?