14 Jan 2021

January 14, 2021

Written by REBEL Crit, REBEL EM
Background Information: Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) remains a diagnostic challenge to providers and a significant burden on healthcare systems globally. Despite the advancement of invasive medical therapies such as percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and extracorporeal membranous oxygenation (ECMO) at designated cardiac catherization centers, the majority of these patients sustain poor outcomes due to hypoxic brain injury. Clinical features of neurologic injury are typically delayed until 72 hours after admission. As a result, many neuro-prognostication tools have been developed to assist with clinical decision making as well as reduce expensive futile interventions.1 Some of these neuroprognostication tools include the Cardiac Arrest Hospital Prognosis (CAHP), OHCA and Targeted Temperature Management (TTM) risk tools. Unfortunately, these are complex and time consuming, thus limiting their use in the emergency department (ED). The authors of the following study sought out to develop and validate a point-based risk score to support clinical decision making and predict neurologic outcomes using the cerebral performance category (CPC) scale (Figure 1)
Medical Categories: Cardiovascular, Neurology, Resuscitation
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26 Dec 2020

December 26, 2020

Written by REBEL Covid-19, REBEL EM
Background Information: With rising cases, an increasing death toll, and a significant strain on hospital systems globally, the COVID-19 pandemic seemed to have no end in sight. The aggressive pursuit of a vaccine has led to multiple clinical trials starting before the end of this year. In fact, there are 48 vaccines under clinical evaluation and 11 of these are currently being evaluated in phase 3 clinical efficacy trials.1 Among those includes, the replication-deficient chimpanzee adenoviral vector developed at Oxford University (ChAdOx1). Following the initiation of a phase 1 clinical trial in the UK (COV001), three additional randomized controlled trials were initiated across the UK (COV002), Brazil (COV003) and South Africa (COV005). Upon completion of enrollment, the authors of the following paper sought to perform a combined interim analysis of the four trials to assess ChAdOx1’s efficacy and safety
Medical Categories: Infectious Disease
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3 Dec 2020

December 3, 2020

Written by REBEL EM

Background Information:

Nausea and/or vomiting are chief complaints that account over 4 million emergency department (ED) visits each year.1 Multiple studies have shown aromatherapy in the form of isopropyl alcohol “prep” pads to be effective in postoperative nausea and vomiting.2,3 More specifically in the ED, a single randomized controlled trial showed nausea relief with inhaled isopropyl alcohol when compared to placebo.4 The authors of this study decided to take it one step further in this placebo-controlled randomized control trial by comparing aromatherapy to oral ondansetron in ED patients with nausea and vomiting
Medical Categories: Abdominal and Gastroinstestinal
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19 Nov 2020

November 19, 2020

Written by REBEL Cast, REBEL Crit
Background Information: Central venous catheterization is a common procedure performed in the ICU for the purposes of drug administration and resuscitation. The subclavian vein is the more preferred access site given its fixed puncture location, ease for nursing access and low incidence of infections.1 Landmark guided catheterization has a widely variable success rate and has been shown to increase the risk of complications such as hematoma formation and pneumothoraxes.2,3 The use of real-time ultrasound guidance has thus led to more central lines being placed in the internal jugular and femoral lines, however there is substantial debate regarding its use in subclavian vein catheterization.4,5 The authors of this study sought to compare the efficacy and safety of static ultrasound-guided puncture with traditional anatomic landmark guided subclavian vein puncture.
Medical Categories: Procedures and Skills, Resuscitation
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16 Nov 2020

November 16, 2020

Written by REBEL Cast

Background Information:

US vs Landmark for Radial Arterial LinesUltrasound guided peripheral and central venous access has become more common while simultaneously decreasing complications and increasing first pass success. Landmark guided palpation has historically been considered the standard of care when placing arterial lines, however the use of ultrasound is challenging that notion as anatomic landmarks are not helpful in 30% of patients.1 Additionally, increasing obesity and hemodynamic instability can make radial arterial line placement even more difficult when using landmark-guided palpation alone. The literature comparing the different methods of arterial line placement is limited to two prospective studies. The first assessed second- and third-year emergency medicine residents while the second study evaluated only four emergency medicine attendings, all with extensive ultrasound training and experience.2,3 The authors of this study sought to compare radial arterial line placement using ultrasound vs landmark guided palpation performed by novice emergency medicine interns with respect to overall success.
Medical Categories: Procedures and Skills, Resuscitation
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