60-Second Soapbox: Maday (Name Game), Colbenson (Knee Immobilizer), Roland (Knowledge Translation)
Welcome to the newest iteration of 60-Second Soapbox! Each episode, one lucky individual gets exactly 1 whole minute to present their rant-of-choice to the world. Any topic is on the table – clinical, academic, economic, or whatever else may interest an EM-centric audience. We carefully remix your audio to add an extra splash of drama and excitement. Even more exciting, participants get to challenge 3 of their peers to stand on a soapbox of their own! [+]
AIR-Pro Series: Trauma (2015)
Below we have listed our selection of the 6 highest quality blog posts related to 4 advanced level questions on trauma topics posed, curated, and approved for residency training by the AIR-Pro Series Board. The blogs relate to the following questions: When to give tranexamic acid in the trauma patient The pregnant trauma patient Transfusions in the trauma patient Resuscitative Endovascular Balloon Occlusion of the Aorta (REBOA) In this module, we have 6 AIR-Pro’s and we did not include any honorable mentions to prevent redundancy of the topics covered. To strive for comprehensiveness, we selected from a broad spectrum of blogs identified through FOAMSearch.net. [+]
Highlights from the 2015 American Heart Association CPR and ECC guidelines
The newest round of the 2015 American Heart Association (AHA) Guidelines for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) and Emergency Cardiac Care (ECC) contains 315 recommendations.1 It is easy to be overwhelmed by this massive (275 pages) document so this post will distill what you need to know in the emergency department. This update marks the end of a 5-year revision cycle for the AHA and the shift to a continuously updated model. Current and future guidelines can now be found at ECCGuidelines.heart.org. This round lacks any of the major foundational changes seen in 2010; however, we do say goodbye to some recommendations [+]
Trick of the Trade: Dermal Avulsion Injuries 2.0
This year I published a Novel, Simple Method for Achieving Hemostasis of Fingertip Dermal Avulsion Injuries in the Journal of Emergency Medicine 1 — a technique I’ve used in my local ED for several years. In brief, this involves achieving hemostasis over a fingertip skin avulsion by using a tourniquet followed by tissue adhesive glue. After bringing the technique to press and sharing this video, I’ve received great tips from peers and subsequently refined it with some additional ideas. Thus I present for the first time on ALiEM: Dermal Avulsion Injuries 2.0. [+]
ALiEMU CAPSULES Module 4: Pharmacology of Emergency Airway Management – Part 2
The next CAPSULES module is in! Part 2 of our 2-part airway series is now published on the Academic Life in EM University (ALiEMU) website. Pharmacology of Airway Management – Part 1 provided some outstanding information on topics such as preoxygenation and apneic oxygenation, awake intubation, delayed sequence intubation, and the pediatric airway. We are excited to announce the next installment of the popular CAPSULES series: Pharmacology of Emergency Airway Management – Part 2. [+]
AIR Series: Environmental Module
Unlike the previous cardiology modules, the environmental module was comparatively under-represented in the top 50 sites of the Social Media Index. Below we have listed our selection of the 3 highest quality blog posts within the past 12 months (as of September 2015) related to environmental emergencies, curated and approved for residency training by the AIR Series Board. More specifically in this module, we identified 0 AIRs and 3 Honorable Mentions. [+]
Evaluation and Management of Heat Stroke
Heat-related illnesses comprise a continuum of disorders ranging from the minor heat edema, heat rash, heat cramps, and heat exhaustion to the more life-threatening condition known as heat stroke. As a general rule, it is involves a process whereby heat gain overwhelms the body’s mechanisms of heat loss. Often it is caused by an impairment of the body’s cooling and adaptive mechanism to effectively transfer heat to the environment, thus leading to a rise in core temperature. 1 [+]
PV Card: Initial Pain Medication Options in the Emergency Department
The emergency department (ED) manages acute pain on a daily basis, ranging from non-traumatic back pain to traumatic fractures. Some providers jump immediately to opioids without considering other non-opioid alternatives or start at incorrect doses. In the age of the opioid epidemic (ALiEM-Annals of EM journal club; bookclub discussing Dreamland) and medication errors, choosing the initial right agent(s) and dose(s) are important. Dr. Nick Koch and Dr. Sergey Motov (@PainFreeED) from Maimonides Medical Center present a thoughtful, evidence-based PV reference card on selecting and dosing initial pain medications for ED patients. Also congratulations to Dr. Motov and his team for their recent 2015 Annals of EM [+]
PV Card: Continuous End Tidal CO2 Monitoring in Cardiac Arrest
For many years, end tidal CO2 monitoring initially was helpful in differentiating tracheal versus esophageal intubations. Now with continuous end tidal capnography, providers have access to so much more information during a cardiac arrest resuscitation, as summarized by the recently released 2015 American Heart Association (AHA) recommendations.1 Thanks to Dr. Abdullah Bakhsh from Emory University for a great PV card to help remind us of these key cardiac resuscitation pearls. PV Card: Continuous End Tidal CO2 Monitoring in Cardiac Arrest Adapted from [1-4] References Link M, Berkow L, Kudenchuk P, et al. Part 7: Adult Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support: 2015 American Heart Association Guidelines [+]
PV Card: Normal Values for Ultrasound Measurements
As emergency medicine providers become more proficient in using bedside ultrasonography as a diagnostic tool, it can be difficult to remember all of the normal cutoff values. Is it 3 or 5 mm as the cutoff? Thanks to the team at UCSF (Dr. Maria Beylin, Dr. Scott Fischette, and Dr. Nate Teismann) for creating a succinct PV card listing the key numbers to remember. You can download this PV card into your mobile device as a reference guide, or you can even print and attach to each of your ultrasound machines! PV Card: Normal Values for Ultrasound Measurements Adapted from [1–4] References Horrow M. Ultrasound [+]
Director of Growth, Strategic Alliance Initiative, Center for Innovation and Digital Health
Massachusetts General Hospital;
Chief Scientific Officer, Conductscience.com
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