30 Sep 2015

September 30, 2015

Written by REBEL EM

I was recently invited by Rick Body and Natalie May to speak at the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) Meeting in Manchester, England, September 2015.  The topic was "The Essence of Emergency Medicine."  I was allotted 20 minutes to give this talk and in my mind I immediately thought about two questions:

  1. How am I supposed to talk about the essence of EM in 20 minutes?
  2. What is it that we really do in the emergency department on a day to day basis?
So instead what I did, was make an executive decision to change the lecture to something slightly different.  I figured we could talk about the modern day superhero.  When you think about it, some of the things we are asked to do in the first 20 minutes of a patients care, truly are superhuman. Now when we were kids, many of us wanted to be superheroes.  How many of us tied a table cloth or towel around our necks like a cape?  Well, to me emergency medicine is one of the closest things to a  modern day superhero.  So instead of the essence of emergency medicine, I gave a talk on the five powers of the modern day superhero.  To me, these are the things that encompass the essence of EM and our initial care of patients.
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24 Sep 2015

September 24, 2015

Written by REBEL EM
Background: When evaluating therapeutic options for PE, there are three categories in my mind: Subsegmental, Submassive, and Massive. For simplicity sake lets just say subsegmental PEs get treated with anticoagulation and massive PEs get treated with thrombolysis. The submassive category is a bit trickier. For example the PEITHO trial looked at full dose systemic fibrinolysis, tenecteplace in intermediate-risk pulmonary embolism and found a reduced risk of death or cardiovascular collapse by 56% but this was offset by an almost 5-fold increased risk of major bleeding and 10-fold increased risk of intracranial hemorrhage compared to anticoagulation alone. The MOPETT Trial on the other hand, looked at half dose systemic tPA for submassive PE and found that there was a significant reduction in pulmonary artery systolic pressures at 28 months vs usual care, with no increase in intracranial hemorrhage but failed to show any statistical mortality benefit compared to anticoagulation alone. Maybe a more simple answer to the submassive PE group would be to do catheter directed thrombolysis at lower doses than given with systemic fibrinolysis.
Medical Categories: Thoracic and Respiratory
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21 Sep 2015

September 21, 2015

Written by REBEL EM
Background: Some of the major take home points from the sepsis trilogy of studies recently published (ProCESS, ARISE, and ProMISe) was that early identification of patients with sepsis, early intravenous fluids, and timely, appropriate broad-spectrum antibiotics is key to decreasing morbidity and mortality. In 2006 a study by Kumar et al [3] showed a 7.6% increase in mortality in patients with sepsis for every hour of delay after the onset of shock, but this finding has not been reproduced. In fact, the results of timing of antibiotic administration on outcomes have been all over the map. Regardless, the Surviving Sepsis Campaign still has very specific recommendations regarding the timing of antibiotics. And even more painful is that metrics for the quality of care of patients with severe sepsis and septic shock are now recognizing these recommendations as core measures.
Medical Categories: Infectious Disease
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14 Sep 2015

September 14, 2015

Written by REBEL EM
Background: In patients with cardiovascularly stable supraventricular tachycardia (SVT), the valsalva maneuver is recommended as an initial maneuver to help with cardioversion. The success rate of the valsalva maneuver alone is documented at 5 – 20%. The next option for patients who still remain in SVT is intravenous adenosine. Adenosine briefly stops all conduction through the AV node, which causes patients to feel a sense of doom or like they are about to die. Increasing venous return and vagal stimulation by laying patients supine and elevating their legs may increase the rate of conversion and is simple, safe, and cost effective.
Medical Categories: Cardiovascular
6 Likes
7 Sep 2015

September 7, 2015

Written by REBEL Cast
Welcome to the September 2015 REBELCast, where Swami, Matt, and I are going to tackle a couple of topics in the world of Venous Thromboembolism (VTE). Seems like we are hearing more and more about VTE in terms of workup, management, etc. Lets face it, diagnosing someone with a pulmonary embolism (PE) is no longer as simple as checking a d-dimer or just doing a CT Pulmonary Angiogram.  There is so much more to it and to frustrate physicians even more there is so much research coming out on this topic alone, even I am having a hard time keeping up.  Swami, Matt, and I thought it might be good to tackle a couple of articles from he world of VTE that have implications for clinical practice and patient care. So with that introduction today we are going to specifically tackle:
  • Topic #1: Home Treatment of Low Risk Venous Thromboembolism with Rivaroxaban
  • Topic #2: RV Dilation on Bedside Echo Performed by ED Physicians
Medical Categories: Cardiovascular, Resuscitation
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