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 [+]
“Dos and Don’ts” of Residency Interviewing
If you are a 4th year medical student, chances are that interviews are taking up much of your time and thought right now. Interviews can be stressful, especially when your future job is at stake and in the hands of the somewhat mysterious match process. How can you set yourself apart from hundreds of other applicants as someone who is a good fit for a program, who should be ranked highly, and who will be a great future resident – all in the course of a 15 minute interview? This post will walk you through some important “Dos” to make you [+]
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 [+]
ALiEM-FeminEM Journal Club: Women in Academic Medicine
We are very excited to present a special installment of the ALiEM Journal Club in collaboration with FeminEM featuring the JAMA article by Jena et al. entitled “Sex Differences in Academic Rank in U.S. Medical Schools in 2014.” 1 Despite correcting for a multitude of metrics such as time since residency completion and research productivity, women remain substantially less likely to attain the rank of full professor at academic centers. To many, this article’s conclusions come as no surprise. This journal club is meant to inspire discussion around gender disparities and brainstorm solutions of equality for all involved in academic medicine. [+]
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 [+]
Diagnose on Sight: Fifth Metatarsal Fractures
Case: A 24 year old male presents with foot pain after a fall down a set of stairs. He reports pain and swelling over the lateral surface of his foot and he has not ambulated due to the pain. Based on the X-ray, what is the diagnosis? [+]
NEXUS Chest CT Decision Instruments in Blunt Trauma
One of the five 2014 American College of Surgeons’ Choosing Wisely recommendations is to avoid routing whole-body CT imaging of trauma patents, also known as the ‘pan-CT’. Until now, no validated decision instrument existed to help guide clinicians decide whether to obtain a chest CT in the setting of blunt trauma. This month, Dr. Robert Rodriguez and the multi-institutional NEXUS Chest CT research team published a paper describing the derivation and validation of 2 decision instruments in PLOS Medicine [1]. [+]
AIR Series: Cardiology – CHF, PVD, and Others (part 2)
As mentioned last module, the FOAMsphere contains a phenomenal amount of cardiology content. Accordingly, the CORD testing schedule and our cardiology module has been divided into two parts. Below we have listed our selection of the 12 highest quality blog posts within the past 12 months (as of August 2015) related to acute coronary syndromes, curated and approved for residency training by the AIR Series Board. In this module we have 6 AIRs and 6 Honorable Mentions. We strive for comprehensiveness by selecting from a broad spectrum of blogs from the top 50 listing per the Social Media Index. [+]