ALiEM AIR Acute Coronary Syndrome Module

Welcome to the Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) Module! After carefully reviewing all relevant posts from the top 50 sites of the Social Media Index, the AIR Team is proud to present the highest quality online content related to ACS emergencies. 13 blog posts within the past 12 months (as of July 2018) met our standard of online excellence and were curated and approved for residency training by the AIR Series Board. We identified 2 AIR and 11 Honorable Mentions. We recommend programs give 5.5 hours (about 25 minutes per article) of III credit for this module.

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By Chris Belcher, MD|2020-09-04T10:56:43-07:00Nov 30, 2018|ALiEMU, Approved Instructional Resources (AIR series)|

Case of a Lethargic Child: Developing a Differential Diagnosis

A 2-year-old previously healthy boy presents to the emergency department (ED) acting sleepier than usual. Yesterday, he was in his usual state of health, but this morning he didn’t wake up at his usual time of 6 am. When his father went to his room at 7 am, the child was lying in bed. He opened his eyes to look at his father, but did not get out of bed. The mother and father deny any trauma, fever, or seizure activity.

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By Aaron Kornblith, MD|2018-11-22T15:23:48-08:00Nov 28, 2018|Pediatrics, Tox & Medications|

ALiEMU Capsules Module 11: Acute Agitation

We are proud to present Capsules Module 11: Acute Agitation, now published on ALiEMU. We present a summary of the module with key points from a stellar module by PharmDs Jenny Koehl, Kyle DeWitt, Gabrielle Procopio, and Zlatan Coralic. When you’re finished, head over to the Capsules page for even more practical pharmacology for the EM provider.
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By Bryan D. Hayes, PharmD, DABAT, FAACT, FASHP|2018-11-16T05:30:58-08:00Nov 16, 2018|ALiEMU, Capsules, Tox & Medications|

Use of Point-of-care Ultrasound in Tibial Plateau Fractures | Case Presentation

A 70-year-old female with no past medical history was hit by a motor vehicle while crossing the street. She experienced no head strike or loss of consciousness, however she was unable to ambulate at the scene, and upon arrival to the ED, complained of left knee pain. The emergency physician noted moderate swelling on exam with intact skin and distal pulses. She was tender to palpation over the proximal tibia. Portable 2-view radiographs were obtained and interpreted as “no acute fracture.” On repeat examination, however, the patient continued to have pain and was now unable to bear weight on the affected extremity. Is there a role for point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) in this situation?

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By Dawa Sherpa, MD|2018-10-28T22:17:27-07:00Oct 29, 2018|Orthopedic, Radiology, Ultrasound|

SAEM is teaming up with us and exclusively sponsoring the AIR Series

The Society of Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM) is now the exclusive, multi-year sponsor of the Approved Instructional Resources (AIR) Series! This series has curated and graded open-access blog posts and podcasts in the field of EM since 2014 to identify and provide high quality, social media-based, educational resources for EM residents. It is one the most used resources for Individualized Interactive Instruction (III) credit, and plus it is free! We look forward to working more with SAEM, who shares our grand vision for medical education.

This aligns perfectly with our recently re-launched ALiEMU “be free to learn” learning management platform, which houses all of the AIR modules as well as the Capsule Series and In-Training Exam Quizzes. Check out the entire Course Catalog. We can’t wait to share with you the new upcoming content.

By Michelle Lin, MD|2019-05-02T14:53:17-07:00Oct 24, 2018|ALiEMU, Approved Instructional Resources (AIR series)|

Reversing Anticoagulation to Administer Systemic Fibrinolytics for Ischemic Stroke: Pump the Brakes

Care of acute ischemic stroke patients is a complex and time-sensitive team effort. There is a potentially dangerous trend in the medical literature over the past few years that seems to be increasing as of late: reversing anticoagulation in order to administer systemic thrombolytic therapy. The purpose of this post is to highlight the available literature on this topic, specifically related to the direct acting oral anticoagulants (DOACs), and discuss why we should not support this practice (at least as of today).

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By Bryan D. Hayes, PharmD, DABAT, FAACT, FASHP|2018-11-11T02:28:19-08:00Oct 23, 2018|Neurology, Tox & Medications|

PECARN Study: Accuracy of Urinalysis for Febrile Infants ≤60 Days Old

The reported accuracy of the urinalysis (UA) for diagnosing urinary tract infections (UTI) is febrile infants ≤ 60 days has been widely variable. Some guidelines specifically exclude these patients due to this variability or recommend urine culture as the primary test.¹

Accuracy of the Urinalysis for Urinary Tract Infections in Febrile Infants 60 Days and Younger, published in Pediatrics in February of 2018, addressed this topic head-on.² The authors sought to evaluate the accuracy of the UA by analyzing data in a planned secondary analysis of a prospectively collected data set, as part of the Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network (PECARN). We review this publication and present a behind-the-scenes podcast interview with lead author Dr. Leah Tzimenatos.
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By Jason Woods, MD|2021-07-01T21:07:41-07:00Sep 27, 2018|Infectious Disease, Pediatrics|