practice updates

The tox patient with low HR. What could you be missing, and what can be done better?

Emergency physicians commonly care for poisoned patients. These exposures may be either intentional or unintentional. Salicylates are commonly found in many topical and over the counter preparations, yet salicylate toxicity is often overlooked and underestimated as a potential cause for illness in our patients. Below is a condensed quick-guide of common mistakes that emergency physicians may be making with respect to salicylate overdoses and how to fix them. The goals of care to take away from this article are prevention of intestinal absorption and CNS entry of salicylates, as well as drug elimination.

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?

A great review of managing the pediatric airway with tips on initial assessment, physiology, and equipment.