EMRad: Can’t Miss Adult Shoulder Injuries

Have you ever been working a shift at 3 am and wondered, “Am I missing something? I’ll just splint and instruct the patient to follow up with their primary doctor in 1 week.” This is a reasonable approach, especially if you’re concerned there could be a fracture. But we can do better. Enter the “Can’t Miss” series: a series organized by body part that will help identify injuries that ideally should not be missed. This list is not meant to be a comprehensive review of each body part, but rather aims to highlight and improve your sensitivity for these potentially catastrophic injuries. Now: the shoulder

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By Stephen Villa, MD|2020-05-14T22:35:01-07:00May 6, 2020|EMRad, Orthopedic, Radiology, Trauma|

EMRad: Radiologic Approach to the Traumatic Shoulder

This is EMRad, a series aimed at providing “just in time” approaches to commonly ordered radiology studies in the emergency department [1]. When applicable, it will provide pertinent measurements specific to management, and offer a framework for when to get an additional view, if appropriate. We have already covered the elbow, the wrist, and the foot and ankle. Next up: the shoulder.

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By Stephen Villa, MD|2020-05-14T22:35:10-07:00May 6, 2020|EMRad, Orthopedic, Radiology, Trauma|

IDEA series: The Bleeding Arm Tourniquet Simulation

Education in emergency response to trauma is a global health priority [1]. Mortality rates are nearly twice as high in patients with trauma in low-income as compared to high-income countries [2]. With uncontrolled bleeding as the number one cause of death from trauma, tourniquet application has been the focus of training programs, like the “Stop the Bleed” campaign in the United States [3]. Although understanding how to apply a tourniquet is a life-saving intervention, use of a windlass tourniquet may not be intuitive [4]. The windlass tourniquet in its simplest form is the “stick-and-rope.” Winding the stick in the tourniquet creates a mechanical advantage for providing compression. Simulation of the windlass technique can be used to teach management of uncontrolled bleeding. Here we describe a low-cost simulation model that combines low- and high-fidelity techniques to train healthcare personnel on windlass tourniquet application.

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By Lacey MenkinSmith, MD CTropMed|2020-04-12T15:16:08-07:00Apr 24, 2020|IDEA series, Medical Education, Simulation, Trauma|

Welcome to the AIR Trauma Module! After carefully reviewing all relevant posts from the top 50 sites of the Social Media Index, the ALiEM AIR Team is proud to present the highest quality online content related to trauma emergencies. 8 blog posts within the past 12 months (as of January 2020) met our standard of online excellence and were curated and approved for residency training by the AIR Series Board. We identified 2 AIR and 6 Honorable Mentions. We recommend programs give 4 hours (about 30 minutes per article) of III credit for this module.

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By Chris Belcher, MD|2020-09-03T21:51:47-07:00Mar 25, 2020|ALiEMU, Approved Instructional Resources (AIR series), Trauma|

EMRad: Can’t Miss Adult Ankle and Foot Injuries

Have you ever been working at 3am and wondered, “Am I missing something? I’ll just splint and instruct the patient to follow up with their PCP in 1 week.” This is a reasonable approach, especially if you’re concerned there could be a fracture. But we can do better. Enter the “Can’t Miss” series: a series organized by body part that will help identify injuries that ideally should not be missed. This list is not meant to be a comprehensive review of each body part, but rather to highlight and improve your sensitivity for these potentially catastrophic injuries. We’ve already covered the elbow and wrist. Now: the foot and ankle.

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By Stephen Villa, MD|2020-05-14T22:35:18-07:00Mar 4, 2020|EMRad, Orthopedic, Radiology, Trauma|

EMRad: Approach to the Traumatic Foot X-ray

Radiology teaching during medical school is variable, ranging from informal teaching to required clerkships [1].Many of us likely received an approach to a chest x-ray, but approaches to other studies may or may not have not been taught. We can do better! Enter EM:Rad, a series aimed at providing “just in time” approaches to commonly ordered radiology studies in the emergency department. When applicable, it will provide pertinent measurements specific to management, and offer a framework for when to get an additional view, if appropriate. We recently covered the elbow, wrist, and ankle: now, the foot x-ray.

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By Stephen Villa, MD|2020-05-14T22:36:00-07:00Feb 26, 2020|EMRad, Orthopedic, Radiology, Trauma|

EMRad: Radiologic Approach to the Traumatic Ankle

Radiology teaching during medical school is variable, ranging from informal teaching to required clerkships [1]. Many of us likely received an approach to a chest x-ray, but approaches to other studies may or may not have not been taught. We can do better! Enter EM:Rad, a series aimed at providing “just in time” approaches to commonly ordered radiology studies in the emergency department. When applicable, it will provide pertinent measurements specific to management, and offer a framework for when to get an additional view, if appropriate. We recently covered the elbow and wrist. Now: the ankle.