EMCrit Blog - Emergency Department Critical Care & Resuscitation

It is winter and that means cardiac arrests coming in with extremely low body temperatures after environmental exposure. How do you treat these patients? How do you rewarm if you don’t have bypass?
Continue reading...

47 Comments

49 Comments

Podcast 65 – A Primer on BVM Ventilation with Reuben Strayer

Today I want to talk about proper ventilation with a Bag-Valve-Mask, aka the BVM. I am joined by my friend Reuben Strayer, MD of EM Updates. You’ll see Reub’s talk from this year’s EMCrit ED Critical Care Conference and hear some of my thoughts as well.
Continue reading...

49 Comments

22 Comments

Podcast 64 – Fluid Responsiveness with Dr. Paul Marik

Today I had the pleasure to interview Dr. Paul Marik, Professor and Division Chief of Pulmonary Critical Care at Eastern Virginia Medical Center. We got to speak on the topic of fluid responsiveness–one of the toughest questions in critical care.
Continue reading...

22 Comments

17 Comments

More on a Diagnostic Strategy for C-Spine Injuries

Podcast 63 set off some expected controversy given my take that plain films are a dead imaging modality for c-spine injuries. I wanted to briefly outline my impression of the existing evidence:
Continue reading...

17 Comments

31 Comments

Podcast 63 – A Pain in the Neck – Part I

In this episode, I discuss the diagnosis of c-spine injuries. I argue that we should not send patients to imaging unless we have used the NEXUS rule and then added the Canadian C-spine Rule to the sequence. If we are imaging, it should be with a 3-view reconstructed CT scan. And even after that is done, you still need a clearance exam before removing the collar.
Continue reading...