Emergency Medicine Cases

Latest Episodes:

Best Case Ever 59 Management of Acute Renal Failure with Volume Overload Jun 28, 2017

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Sometimes our renal failure patients present short of breath with volume overload and we don't have immediate access to dialysis. What then? Dr. Mike Betzner, EM doc and medical director of STARS air ambulance service and collaborator on EM Cases CritCases blog tells his Best Case Ever and his approach to this challenging clinical situation. He offers two commonly used solutions: nitroglycerin and BiPAP as well as two not so common solutions: phlebotomy and rotating BP cuffs blown to above SBP...

Episode 97 EM Literature Review 2016 from EMU & Whistler Conferences Jun 13, 2017

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Quick and insightful reviews of 17 important adult and pediatric emergency medicine studies from 2016: The PROCAMIO study for stable VT, platelets for head bleeds (PATCH), BP lowering in ICH (ATACH II), antibiotics for abscesses, work up of subarachnoid hemorrhage, dosing IV ketorolac, the PESIT trial, ketamine dosage for sedation in pediatrics, instructions after minor head injury, Salter-Harris I fractures of the lateral malleolus, interpreting oxygen saturation for disposition making in children with bronchiolitis, clinical pathways in pediatric asthma and sepsis and more...

Best Case Ever 58 Euglycemic DKA Jun 06, 2017

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It's not only run of the mill DKA, starvation and alcoholic ketoacidosis that can cause a metabolic acidosis with elevated ketones. Euglycemic DKA can be caused by the newer diabetes medications sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitors like Canagliflozin; and it's important to recognize this tricky diagnosis early and initiate treatment for DKA despite a normal serum glucose level...

Episode 96 Beyond ACLS Cardiac Arrest – Live from EMU Conference 2017 May 23, 2017

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This is the first ever video podcast on EM Cases with Jordan Chenkin from EMU Conference 2017 discussing how to optimize three aspects of cardiac arrest care: persistent ventricular fibrillation, optimizing pulse checks and PEA arrest, with code team videos contrasting the ACLS approach to an optimized approach...

Episode 95 Pediatric Trauma May 09, 2017

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Management of the pediatric trauma patient is challenging regardless of where you work. In this EM Cases episode, with the help of two leading pediatric trauma experts, Dr. Sue Beno from Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto and Dr. Faud Alnaji from Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario in Ottawa we answer such questions as: what are the most important physiologic and anatomic differences between children and adults that are key to managing the trauma patient? How much fluid should be given prior to blood products? What is the role of POCUS in abdominal trauma? Which patients require abdominal CT? How do you clear the pediatric c-spine? Are atropine and fentanyl recommended as pre-induction agents in the pediatric trauma patient? How can the BIG score help us prognosticate? Is tranexamic acid recommended in early pediatric trauma like it is in adults? Is the Pediatric Trauma Score helpful in deciding which patients should be transferred to a trauma center? and many more...

Best Case Ever 57 PREPARE mnemonic for Airway Management Apr 25, 2017

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Airway management requires a lot things; it requires not only technical skills and specific considerations of anatomy and physiology but a co-ordinated team who can communicate clearly and react to a whole slew of potentially challenging situations. On this month's Best Case Ever podcast we use the framework of a new mnemonic PREPARE to discuss human factors, situational awareness and some airway tips and tricks with intensivist Peter Brindley, human factors expert Chris Hicks and EM-intensivist Sara Gray...

Episode 94 UTI Myths and Misconceptions Apr 12, 2017

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In 2014, the CDC reported that UTI antibiotic treatment was avoidable at least 39% of the time. Why? Over-diagnosis and treatment results from the fact that asymptomatic bacteriuria is very common in all age groups, urine cultures are frequently ordered without an appropriate indication, and urinalysis results are often misinterpreted. Think of the last time you prescribed antibiotics to a patient for suspected UTI – what convinced you that they had a UTI? Was it their story? Their exam? Or was it the urine dip results the nurse handed to you before you saw them? Does a patient’s indwelling catheter distort the urinalysis? How many WBCs/hpf is enough WBCs to call it a UTI? Can culture results be trusted if there are epithelial cells in the specimen? Can a “dirty” urine in an obtunded elderly patient help guide management?...

Best Case Ever 56 Anion Gap Metabolic Acidosis Mar 28, 2017

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In this month's Best Case Ever on EM Cases Dr. Ross Claybo and Dr. Keerat Grewal tell the story of a patient with a complicated anion gap metabolic acidosis. We discuss how to sort through the differential diagnosis with a better mnemonic than MUDPILES, the controversy around administering sodium bicarbonate for metabolic acidosis, the indications for fomepizole and the value of taking time to to build a therapeutic relationship with your ED patients...

Episode 93 – PALS Guidelines Mar 14, 2017

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I remember when I started practicing emergency medicine a decade and a half ago it seemed that any kid who came to our ED in cardiac arrest died. I know, depressing thought. But, over the past 15 years, survival to discharge from pediatric cardiac arrest has markedly improved, at least for in-hospital arrests. This is probably mostly due to an emphasis on high-quality CPR and advances in post-resuscitation care; nonetheless the more comfortable, knowledgeable and prepared we are for the always scary critically ill pediatric patient, the more likely we will be able to resuscitate them successfully - which is always a huge save.

Best Case Ever 55 Pediatric Cerebral Herniation Mar 07, 2017

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In anticipation of the upcoming EM Cases main episode on Pediatric Polytrauma Dr. Suzanne Beno, Co-director of the Trauma Program at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, tells her Best Case Ever of a child who suffers a severe traumatic head injury with signs of raised intracranial pressure and cerebral herniation. She discusses the importance of being vigilant when presented with classic patterns of injury, the use of hypertonic saline, crisis resource management and shared decision making with consultants...

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