What if I told you that I think that patient you just sent home with vertigo may have been a missed cerebellar stroke? Would you be dialing risk management or could you tell me all of the reasons why I’m wrong? Isolated vertigo without other neurological findings can’t be a stroke, right? That is true, if you are doing the right exam, but if you are just doing your standard ED neuro screening exam then you might be missing serious pathology. In this episode of the EMCrit podcast, I discuss how to perform the tests that will differentiate a peripheral cause of continuous vertigo from a cerebellar stroke.
EMCrit 32 – Treatment of Severe Hyperkalemia
Hey folks. As I get ready for ACEP, I just wanted to get a quick podcast put up. One of the listeners requested an episode on the treatment of hyperkalemia in the ED.
EMCrit 31 – Intra-Arrest Management
This week we talk about managing the intra-arrest period of cardiac arrest. My paradigm has changed dramatically over the past few years. In the past, I viewed the arrest as a period to teach my residents how to place a subclavian central line, how to intubate when the patient is moving, and how to cram as many drugs as possible into a patient in a short period of time. Looking at how I manage an arrest today, so much has changed.
EMCrit 30 – Hemorrhagic Shock Resuscitation
This week we discuss the resuscitation of the hemorrhagic shock patient with Dr. Richard Dutton, MD.
EMCrit 29 – Procedural Sedation, Part II
It seems the government and other specialties are trying hard to make sedation as difficult as possible in the ED. We must persevere to provide the best procedural sedation to allow maximal comfort and safety for our patients. This continues the discussion started in Part I.
EMCrit 4 – Procedural Sedation – Part I
It seems the government and other specialties are trying hard to make sedation as difficult as possible in the ED. We must persevere to provide the best procedural sedation to allow maximal comfort and safety for our patients. This brief lecture was originally posted on the defunct EMCrit Lecture Site on 8/7/2009.
EMCrit 28 – Meningitis and Severe CNS Infections
Severe CNS Infections are time dependent diagnoses! You must have a high index of suspicion, a good plan for your work-up, and rapid provision of treatment. After seeing a severely ill meningitis patient, I figured I would do a podcast on some tips and pearls on this topic.
EMCrit 27 – Calcium Channel Blocker Overdose
This week, I am joined by Leon Gussow, MD of the excellent blog: The Poison Review (TPR). TPR is my source for new toxicology articles; I highly recommend it as an incredible read. I got to meet Leon for a few beers a month ago; he is just a great guy. My Canadian pal, Ram, suggested calcium channel blocker OD as a podcast episode. Ram, here you go.
EMCrit 26 – Patient Controlled Analgesia by Edward Gentile
Even when we can’t cure a patient, we can relieve suffering. On average, we kind of stink at pain control in the ED. One physician, Dr. Ed Gentile, has created a simple path to optimal acute pain control in the ED. I heard this lecture on the EM:RAP podcast and got permission from Drs. Gentile and Herbert to repost it here. This is not a critical care topic per se, but it is applicable to the critically ill, the non-critically ill–basically any patient who is in pain in the ED.
EMCrit 25 – End of Life and Palliative Care in the ED
Aggressive palliative care is just as important as aggressive critical care in the ED. Sometimes we will be the first physicians to talk to a family about end of life issues, even if their loved one is terminally ill. Now that is not how it should be, but it just means that we must be just as skilled at family palliative care discussions as we are at floating a transvenous pacer. In this podcast, I discuss my vision of how to handle palliative care issues in the ED.
EMCrit 24 – The Cric Show
Ok, Ok, I promise this is the last airway episode for at least a little while. I am perhaps a bit obsessed. Had this show in the works for a while. The cric is the last barrier between a failed airway and death. EM docs need to be able to perform this procedure without hesitation. This requires training and practice until you can perform the procedure in < 30 seconds literally with your eyes closed!
EMCrit 23 – Awake Intubation for Trauma and Medical Patients
So after the intubation video went up on emrap tv, I got a flurry of emails telling me how cool the concept is, but questioning who this would actually be usable on.
To answer that question, we first must discuss who actually requires intubation. If you wait until the patient is apneic, then of course you can’t use awake intubation. The idea is to intubate before the patient stops breathing.
EMCrit 22 – Non-Invasive Severe Sepsis Care
Young patient, lactate of 5.2, pneumonia… You know what you’re supposed to do–put in the central line and start early goal directed therapy. Problem is, most people can’t see sticking a central line in a patient that does not need pressors and otherwise looks well. Yet these patient have an annoying habit of going on to decompensate and perish. Well now there may be another way. Thanks to an article just published in JAMA, we may have a path to non-invasive treatment of severe sepsis. In this EMCrit Podcast, I interview Dr. Alan E. Jones, author of the article, Lactate clearance vs central venous oxygen saturation as goals of early sepsis therapy: a randomized clinical trial. Then I discuss how this article changes the game when it comes to caring for severe sepsis patients.
EMCrit 21 – A Bad Sedation Package Leaves your Patient Trapped in a Nightmare
Pushing some ativan followed by vecuronium is no longer an acceptable strategy to manage post-intubation sedation. A good analgesia and sedation package is essential if you care about your patient’s comfort and well-being. We need to move to PAIN-FIRST paradigm. Optimize analgesia and then add in sedative agents as a bonus. In this episode of the EMCrit Podcast, I expand on a previous rant to discuss the optimal way to handle routine post-intubation patients and some special scenarios you may encounter.
EMCrit 20 – The Crashing Atrial Fibrillation Patient
Your patient is pale and diaphoretic. Blood pressure is 70/50. Heart rate is 178. EKG shows atrial fibrillation… What are you going to do???
Yeah, yeah the Pavlovian ACLS response–You cardiovert. Wonderful, except it didn’t change a thing. Now what?
In this episode, I discuss the crashing atrial fibrillation patient.