Journal Jam Podcast | EM Cases: Recent Episodes
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In this Part 3 of our 3-part podcast series on management of lacerations Dr. Haley Cochrane joins Anton and Justin to explore laceration aftercare and the evidence for keeping wounds dry or wet, wound dressings, topical antibiotics, prophylactic oral antibiotics, Vitamin E oil, aloe vera cream and UV protection with regards to cosmetic outcomes and infection rates. What may be the most important aspect of aftercare is educating the patient what to expect as the laceration heals and when they should seek medical attention...
The post JJ 23 Laceration Aftercare – Dressings, Antibiotics, Improving Cosmesis, Preventing Infection appeared first on Emergency Medicine Cases.
In this Part 2 of our 3-part Journal Jam series on Laceration Management we dive into the evidence for the choice of material to close lacerations. Which is best for which kind of laceration? Surgical skin glue? Wound adhesive strips? Surgical staples? Absorbable sutures? Nonabsorbable sutures?...
The post JJ 22 Laceration Repair – Glue vs Strips vs Staples vs Sutures appeared first on Emergency Medicine Cases.
In this Journal Jam podcast Anton and Justin welcome special guest Dr. Haley Cochrane. We dive deep into the evidence for timing of closure and infection rate, fluid choice, volume and pressure of irrigation of lacerations, glove type and infection rate, how eversion of wound edges effects cosmetic outcomes and much more. You might be surprised to discover that the evidence for many things we do for lacerations that are considered "standard of care", is either weak or non-existent. But do not fret - we deliver practical bottom line practical recommendations to help improve outcomes, save time and decrease resource utilization...
The post Journal Jam 21 Laceration Management – Does Timing of Closure, Irrigation, Gloves Type, Eversion Matter? appeared first on Emergency Medicine Cases.
In this Journal Jam podcast we dig deep into the science of FDA-approved outpatient medications for COVID with 3 critical appraisal masters: Dr. Andrew Morris, Dr. Rohit Mohindra and Dr. Justin Morgenstern. What is the evidence for the neutralizing monoclonal antibody medications like Sotrovimab? The nucleoside analogs like Remdesivir and Paxlovid? The inhaled corticosteroids like Budesonide and Ciclesonide? The SSRIs like Fluvoxamine? As you'll hear, there are many ways to interpret the data and a variety of philosophies on prescribing medications that have not had enough time to be studied adequately in a pandemic where millions of lives have been lost and we do not have much to offer patients to reduce morbidity and mortality...
The post JJ 20 Outpatient Medications for COVID-19 appeared first on Emergency Medicine Cases.
In this Journal Jam podcast, special guest Dr. Mizuho Morrison joins Anton and Justin to clear up the muddy waters of therapeutic hypothermia with a deep dive into the world’s literature...
The post Journal Jam 19 Therapeutic Hypothermia After Cardiac Arrest – Mixed Evidence appeared first on Emergency Medicine Cases.
With the help of a special guest, EBM guru Dr. Ken Milne of the The SGEM, Anton and Justin look at all the various potential indications for TXA and review the available evidence. Should we be using TXA for epistaxis, postpartum hemorrhage, hyphema or hemoptysis? Is it a miracle drug that stops all bleeding? Or has it been drastically overhyped? Was CRASH-2 enough to be definitive, or does the classic EBM mantra of "we need more studies" remain true?...
The post Journal Jam 18 The Evidence for TXA – Should Tranexamic Acid Be Routine Therapy in the Bleeding Patient? appeared first on Emergency Medicine Cases.
What are the indications for steroids in patients with pneumonia besides those with concurrent COPD exacerbations, ARDS or adrenal shock? What is the evidence for benefit for steroids in CAP, the flu and COVID pneumonia? And if there is benefit, do those benefits outweigh the potential harms? To help us sort this out, Justin and Anton have the mighty return of a special guest - Dr. Andrew Morris in this Journal Jam podcast...
The post Journal Jam 17 – Steroids for CAP and COVID Pneumonia appeared first on Emergency Medicine Cases.
Does heparin - LMWH or unfractionated heparin - benefit the patient with a pretty good story for angina with a bump in their troponin and some ST depression in the lateral leads? We’re expected to routinely give heparin for all these NSTEMI and unstable angina patients with any ischemic changes seen on the ECG, right? And for STEMI too. But should we?....
The post JJ 16 Heparin for ACS and STEMI appeared first on Emergency Medicine Cases.
In this Journal Jam podcast we do a deep dive into the hugely complex literature of cardiac stress testing and see whether or not stress testing portends any benefit for patients who we assess in the ED for chest pain. The problem is - if stress testing doesn’t benefit our patients and isn’t a good screening test for preventing MIs, then what do we do with our low risk chest pain patients we see in the ED?
The post JJ 15 Cardiac Stress Testing After Negative ED Workup for MI appeared first on Emergency Medicine Cases.
Does epinephrine improve the chances of return of spontaneous circulation at the expense of the brain? In other words, while we know that epinephrine doubles rates of ROSC in all comers in cardiac arrest, there’s never been robust evidence for long term improvements in neurologic functional outcomes. So, are we saving lives, or are we prolonging death? Find out the answer in this Journal Jam podcast with Justin Morgenstern and Rory Spiegel...
The post JJ 14 Epinephrine in Cardiac Arrest appeared first on Emergency Medicine Cases.
In this EM Cases Journal Jam podcast with Anton Helman, Justin Morgenstern, Rory Spiegel, and special guest Jacques Lee we explore the evidence for femoral nerve blocks and fascia iliaca blocks as well as discuss the practical implementation of them in your ED. We answer questions such as: Do regional nerve blocks for hip fractures effectively reduce pain? Do they decrease opioid use? Are they safe compared to standard pain management? Should the block be done prior to x-ray confirmation? and many more...
The post JJ 13 Regional Nerve Blocks for Hip Fractures appeared first on Emergency Medicine Cases.
BNP is currently in use in many EDs across North America and Europe. In this Journal Jam podcast we discuss the clinical utility of BNP and pro-NT-BNP in the work-up of the dyspneic ED patient. We ask the questions: does BNP add much beyond physician gestalt? Which patients might BNP be useful for? Should we abandon BNP as a dichotomous rule-in/rule-out variable and instead use it as a continuous variable? Does using BNP effect patient oriented outcomes? Is lung POCUS a better test? Are prediction models that include BNP useful? and many more....
The post JJ 12 BNP for Diagnosis of Acute CHF appeared first on Emergency Medicine Cases.
Lauren Westafer joins Justin Morgenstern, Rory Spiegel and Anton Helman in a deep dive discussion on the world's literature on Post Contrast Acute Kidney Injury (PCAKI) in this Journal Jam podcast. Hospitals continue to insist on time consuming, and potentially dangerous protocols for administration of fluids to patients with renal dysfunction prior to CT IV contrast despite the lack of evidence that Contrast Induced Nephropathy (CIN) even exists. Would you choose a different imaging modality if your radiologist suggested that a patient with renal dysfunction who required a CT with IV contrast should forgo the contrast risking a missed diagnosis?
The post Journal Jam 11 Post Contrast Acute Kidney Injury – PCAKI appeared first on Emergency Medicine Cases.
In this part 2 of EM Cases Journal Jam podcast on Thrombolysis and Endovascular Therapy for Stroke Justin Morgenstern, Rory Spiegel and Anton Helman do a deep dive into the world's literature on endovascular therapy for stroke. While the evidence for endovascular therapy is stronger than that for IV systemic thrombolysis for stroke outcomes at 90 days, a closer look at the literature reveals that a very small minority of patients are eligible for endovascular therapy and we still don't know which patients benefit most from endovascular therapy...
The post Journal Jam 10 Part 2 Endovascular Therapy for Stroke appeared first on Emergency Medicine Cases.
In this two part EM Cases Journal Jam podcast Justin Morgenstern, Rory Spiegel and Anton Helman do a deep dive into the world's literature on systemic thrombolysis for ischemic stroke followed by an analysis of endovascular therapy for stroke. We elucidate the important issues related to p-values, ordinal analysis, fragility index, heterogeneity of studies, stopping trials early and conflicts of interest related to this body of evidence. While "calling a code stroke" is now considered standard for most stroke patients and tPA for stroke is considered a class 1A drug, a close look at the literature tells us that the evidence is not as strong as our stroke protocols suggest...
The post Journal Jam 10 Thrombolysis & Endovascular Therapy for Stroke Part 1 appeared first on Emergency Medicine Cases.
The EM Cases Team is very excited to bring you not only a new format for the Journal Jam podcast but a new member of the team, Dr. Rory Spiegel, aka @EM_Nerd an Emergency Medicine physician from The University Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore, the founder of the EM Nerd blog and the co-host of the Annals of EM podcast. The new format sees Justin Morgenstern, Teresa Chan, Rory Spiegel and Anton Helman doing deep dives into the world's literature on specific practical questions while highlighting some important evidence-based medicine concepts. The question we ask in this Journal Jam podcast: Is there a role for D-dimer testing in the workup of aortic dissection in the ED?
The post Journal Jam 9 – D-dimer to Rule Out Aortic Dissection appeared first on Emergency Medicine Cases.
This is EM Cases Journal Jam podcast on a randomized control trial of dilute apple juice vs PediaLyte for mild pediatric gastroenteritis. While IV rehydration is required in cases of severe gastroenteritis (which we rarely see in North America) and oral rehydration with electrolyte maintenance solutions is still the mainstay in treating moderate gastroenteritis, could better-tasting, more cost-effective fluids such as diluted apple juice be just as effective as traditional electrolyte solutions in milder cases? Listen to Dr. Justin Morgenstern (@First10EM) interviewing Dr. Stephen Freedman, the world-renowned pediatric EM researcher who put ondansetron for pediatric gastroenteritis on the map and who was one of our guest experts on our main episode on Pediatric Gastroenteritis, Constipation and Bowel Obstruction, about this practice-changing paper. This is followed by a hilarious rant on the topic from Dr. Anthony Crocco ("Ranthony"), the Division head and medical director of pediatric EM at Hamilton Health Sciences.
The post Journal Jam 8 – Dilute Apple Juice for Pediatric Gastroenteritis appeared first on Emergency Medicine Cases.
Journal Jam 7 - Amiodarone vs Lidocaine vs Placebo in Cardiac Arrest: The ALPS Trial.
In our most popular EM Cases episode to date - ACLS Guidelines Cardiac Arrest Controversies, we boldly stated, that there has never been an antiarrhythmic medication that has shown any long term survival benefit in cardiac arrest. The use of medications in cardiac arrest has been one of those things that we all do, but that we know the evidence isn’t great for. Yet Amiodarone is still in the newest AHA adult cardiac arrest algorithm for ventricular fibrillation or pulseless ventricular tachycarida – 300mg IV after the 3rd shock with the option to give it again at 150mg after that. Anti-arrhythmics have been shown in previous RCTs to increase the rate of return of spontaneous circulation and even increased survival to hospital admission, however none of them have been able to show a decrease in mortality or a favourable neurological outcome at hospital discharge. In other words, there has never been shown a long term survival or functional benefit - which is a bit disconcerting.
But now, we have a recent large randomized, controlled trial that shines some new light on the role of anti-arrythmics in cardiac arrest - The ALPS trial: Amiodarone vs Lidocaine vs placebo in out of hospital cardiac arrest. In this Journal Jam podcast, Justin Morgenstern and Anton Helman interview two authors of the ALPS trial, Dr. Laurie Morrison a world-renowned researcher in cardiac arrest and Dr. Paul Dorian, a cardiac electrophysiologist and one of Canada's leading authorities on arrhythmias about what we should take away from the ALPS trial. It turns out, it's not so simple. We also discuss the value of dual shock therapy for shock resistant ventricular fibrillation and the future of cardiac arrest care.
The post Journal Jam 7 – Amiodarone vs Lidocaine vs Placebo in Cardiac Arrest: The ALPS Trial appeared first on Emergency Medicine Cases.
This is EM Cases Journal Jam Podcast 6 - Outpatient Topical Anesthetics for Corneal Abrasions.
I’ve been told countless times by ophthalmologists and other colleagues NEVER to prescribe topical anesthetics for corneal abrasion patients, with the reason being largely theoretical - that tetracaine and the like will inhibit re-epithelialization and therefore delay epithelial healing as well as decrease corneal sensation, resulting in corneal ulcers. With prolonged use of outpatient topical anesthetics for corneal abrasions, corneal opacification could develop leading to decreased vision.
Now this might be true for the tetracaine abuser who pours the stuff in their eye for weeks on end, but when we look at the literature for toxic effects of using topical anesthetics in the short term, there is no evidence for any clinically important detrimental outcomes. Should we ignore the dogma and use tetracaine anyway? Is there evidence that the use of topical anesthetics after corneal abrasions is safe and effective for pain control without adverse effects or delayed epithelial healing?
To discuss the paper "The Safety of Topical Anesthetics in the Treatment of Corneal Abrasions: A Review" by Drs. Swaminathan, Otterness, Milne and Rezaie published in the Journal of Emergency Medicine in 2015, we have EM Cases’ Justin Morgenstern, a Toronto-based EM Doc, EBM enthusiast as well as the brains behind the First10EM blog and Salim Rezaie, Clinical Assistant Professor of EM and Internal Medicine at University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio as well as the Creator & Founder of the R.E.B.E.L. EM blog and REBELCast podcast.
In this Journal Jam podcast, Dr. Morgenstern and Dr. Rezaie also discuss a simple approach to critically appraising a systematic review article, how to handle consultants who might not be aware of the literature and/or give you a hard time about your decisions and much more...
The post Journal Jam 6 – Outpatient Topical Anesthetics for Corneal Abrasions appeared first on Emergency Medicine Cases.
Traditionally we've run at least 2 troponins 6 or 8 hours apart to help rule out MI and recently in algorithms like the HEART score we've combined clinical data with a 2 or 3 hour delta troponin to help rule out MI. The paper we'll be discussing here is a multicentre/multinantional study from the Canadian Medical Association Journal from this year out of Switzerland entitled "Prospective validation of a 1 hour algorithm to rule out and rule in acute myocardial infarction using a high sensitivity cardian troponin T assay" with lead author Tobias Reichlin. It not only looks at whether or not we can rule out MI using a delta troponin at only 1 hour but whether or not we can expedite the ruling in of MI using this protocol.
The post Journal Jam 5 One Hour Troponin to Rule Out and In MI appeared first on Emergency Medicine Cases.
You’d think ketamine was in the ED drinking water! Not only has this NMDA receptor antagonist been used effectively for procedural sedation and rapid sequence intubation, but also, for delayed sequence intubation to buy time for pre-oxygenation, for life-threatening asthma as it has bronchodilatory and anxiolytic effects, for severely agitated psychiatric patients and excited delirium syndrome to dissociate them and get them under control; ketamine has even been used for refractory status epilepticus and for head injured patients as it is thought to have neuroprotective effects.
The big question is: How effective is low dose ketamine analgesia for patients with moderate to severe pain in the ED as an adjunct to opiods? Low dose ketamine seems not only to help control pain, but it also has this almost magical effect of making patients indifferent to the pain.
Pain is everywhere. And oligoanalgesia occurs in up to 43% of patients in EDs. Can we relieve suffering with low dose ketamine analgesia in the ED?....
The post Journal Jam 4 – Low Dose Ketamine Analgesia appeared first on Emergency Medicine Cases.
In this Journal Jam we have Dr. Michelle Lin from Academic Life in EM interviewing two authors, Dr. Rebecca Smith‑Bindman, a radiologist, and Dr. Ralph Wang an EM physician both from USCF on their article “Ultrasonography versus Computed Tomography for suspected Nephrolithiasis” published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2014. There is currently a wide practice variation in the imaging work-up of the patient who presents to the ED with a high suspicion for renal colic. On the one extreme, some EM physicians use CT to screen all patients who present with renal colic, while on the other extreme, other EM physicians do not use any imaging on any patient who has had previous imaging. The role of POCUS and radiology department ultrasound as an alternative to CT in the work up of renal colic has not been clearly defined in the ED setting. This study was a pragmatic multi-centre randomized control trial of patients in whom the primary diagnostic concern was renal colic, that tried to answer the question: is there a significant difference in the serious missed diagnosis rate, serious adverse events rate, pain, return visits, admissions to hospital, radiation dose and diagnostic accuracy if the EM provider chose POCUS, radiology department ultrasound or CT for their initial imaging modality of choice. This Journal Jam is peer review by EMNerd's Rory Spiegel.
The post Journal Jam 3 – Ultrasound vs CT for Renal Colic appeared first on Emergency Medicine Cases.
It makes sense that the treatment of primary spnontaneous pneumothorax would lend itself well to outpatient management, since patients are usually young and otherwise healthy, and the mortality and morbidity from these air leaks are really very low. Most patients would rather be managed as an outpatient rather than admitted to hospital and sending these patients home would probably end up saving the system resources and money. In this month's Journal Jam Podcast on small bore chest tube and outpatient management of pneumothorax, the highlighted article that Anton Helman and Teresa Chan discuss is Voison et al. on the “Ambulatory Management of Large Spontaneous Pneumothorax With Pigtail Catheters.” We hear from Michelle Lin, Seth Trueger, Heather Murray and the lead author himself, Stephan Jouneau. Questions posed include: In what ways is the use of small bore catheters with Heimlich valves for spontaneous pneumothorax better than needle aspiration? Is it necessary to repeat a CXR after placement of the catheter? Who should follow up these patients after they are discharged from the hospital? How can we minimize kinking and dislodgement of the catheter? and many more.....
The post Journal Jam 2: Small Bore Chest Tube and Outpatient Management of Pneumothorax appeared first on Emergency Medicine Cases.
In this first ever episode of the Journal Jam podcast, a collaboration between EM Cases, Academic Life in EM and The Annals of Emergency Medicine's Global Emergency Medicine Journal Club, Teresa Chan and I, along with Jeff Kline, Jonathan Kirschner, Anand Swaminathan, Salim Rezaie and Sam Shaikh from ALiEM, discuss the potential for Age Adjusted D-dimer to rule out pulmonary embolism in low risk patients over the age of 50.
We discuss 4 key questions about the ADJUST-PE Study from JAMA in March 2014 including: Would you order a CTPA on a 60 year old woman with an age adjusted D-dimer of 590 ng/L?
The problem until now has been that the older the patient, the more likely the D-dimer is to be positive whether they have a PE or not, so many of us have thrown the D-dimer out the window in older patients and go straight to CTPA, even in low risk patients. If you are a risk averse doc, this strategy will lead to over-utilization of resources, huge costs, length of stay, radiation effects etc; and if you’re not so risk averse, then you might decide not to work up the low risk older patient at all and miss clinically important PEs.
expert peer reviewFor all the questions discussed on this podcast, the original Google Hangout interview from which this podcast was based, and the crowd sourced opinions from around world, visit the ALiEM website. Many thanks to all the talented people who made this podcast possible. Together, we're smarter!
The post Journal Jam 1: Age Adjusted D-dimer with Jeff Kline and Jonathan Kirschner appeared first on Emergency Medicine Cases.