FOAMED

You’ve tried your normal asthma treatment pathway, and the patient looks worse… What’s next?

Current EM residents, as part of the Millennial Generation (born between 1981 and the present), now see this new technology as a way of life, and feel the need to be connected online at all times.5,6 As a result, many EM residents have abandoned the traditional lecture hall and textbooks, and have taken to their electronic devices and the World Wide Web for obtaining information.

In order to continue providing quality education that meets the needs of the modern EM resident, the type and quality of educational resources that we deliver must also change.

So the question becomes: How do we use these new resources to guide the education of our current EM residents both on and off shift?

We’ve all heard it at one point or another: “Man, I’d HATE to have to intubate THAT!” Typically, this sentence is used to describe a patient in an ominous, sphincter-tightening situation, or the patient with the obviously suboptimal airway.

You walk by the door to the Resuscitation Bay or Trauma Bay, see that the patient is in respiratory distress, and rapidly breeze through your airway mnemonics and ultimately come to the conclusion that this would be a scary airway. The airways of myths and legends, and where heroes are made.

A great post by Core EM – Bringing core EM content to anyone, anywhere, anytime. Learn ultrasound guided pericardiocentesis for cardiac tamponade!

Every few years, we come to a crossroads that makes us reexamine our current clinical practice and consider a better intervention. For the past twenty years, patients presenting with acute ischemic stroke have had essentially one option for therapy: intravenous thrombolytics. Since the NINDS-2 trial in 1995 [1], tPA has erupted onto the scene of stroke management and has become the gold standard despite ongoing questions behind the true efficacy of tPA.

Is the use of oral contrast for abdominal CT still necessary?

Updates in wound care: Normal saline or tap water? What pressure do you need to use? What volume is needed? Should you irrigate clean wounds?

Is Tamsulosin actually useful for renal stone expulsion? Anand Swaminathan does a deep dive evaluation of the literature. You don’t want to miss this!

Death after discharge from the Emergency Department (ED) is an uncommon but nonetheless highly concerning event. Discharge from the ED, on the other-hand, is a frequent event, with over 80% of ED visits culminating in discharge to home or non-acute care. (1) That number may be increasing with more pressure to find alternatives to inpatient admissions. (1,2) Discharge from the ED is a vulnerable time for patients, and it is a high-stakes time for both patients and providers.

An update on awake intubation with a discussion of the needed supplies, various techniques, complications, and modifications.