FOAMcast - An Emergency Medicine Podcast

Latest Episodes:

FOAMcastini - Medical Texting Jun 05, 2017

Show notes

We interrupt our normal core content for this update:

Texting amongst medical professionals is ubiquitous; however, given patient privacy laws, many wonder, what is permissible?

We discuss a recent article in JAMA by Brian Drolet on this very topic as well as some basic professionalism pearls.

Show notes at FOAMcast.org

Thanks for listening,

Lauren Westafer and Jeremy Faust

Episode 70 - Non-Pregnant Vaginal Bleeding May 15, 2017

Show notes

We cover FOAM on the WOMAN trial of tranexamic acid (TXA) in post-partum hemorrhage including BroomeDocs, EMlitofnote, and The Bottom Line

Then we delve into core content on non-pregnant vaginal bleeding using Rosen's and Tintinalli's as a guide.

Show notes are available at FOAMcast.org

Thanks for listening! Lauren Westafer & Jeremy Faust

Episode 69 - Urinary Tract Infection May 06, 2017

Show notes

We cover Free Open Access Medical Education (FOAM) from a recent Emergency Medicine Cases podcast and First10inEM blog post by Dr. Justin Morganstern regarding urinary tract infections (UTIs). This podcast and blog tackle common issues in UTI diagnosis and treatment, including the following points:

UTI is a clinical diagnosis, a dirty urine does not mean the patient has a UTI
Urinalyses are more complicated to interpret than we probably understand

Then we cover core content from Rosen's Emergency Medicine (8th ed), Chapter 99; Tintialli's Emergency Medicine (8th ed), Chapter 91; IDSA Guidelines for Treatment and Asymptomatic Bacteriuria

Thanks for listening!

Jeremy Faust and Lauren Westafer

Episode 68 - ECG Ischemia Apr 26, 2017

Show notes

A recent study in Academic Emergency Medicine by Hughes and colleagues, looks at the potential clinical relevance of having emergency physicians sign ECGs read "normal" by the computer software. FOAM reviews of this article can be found here:

Then we review ischemia on ECGs, including STEMIs as well as a dive into ischemic T waves

Check out FOAMcast.org for more show notes and images.

Thanks for listening!

Lauren Westafer and Jeremy Faust

Episode 67 - Serious Pediatric Fever Mar 31, 2017

Show notes

We cover an episode of The Skeptic's Guide to Emergency Medicine that covers a validation study of the Step by Step approach to pediatric fever. This approach to infants with a fever <3 months old is alluring as it does not necessitate a lumbar puncture. This algorithm had a better sensitivity and negative predictive value than the Rochester criteria. The approach did miss some infants with a serious bacterial infection and these tended to be those between 21 and 28 days old and those with fever onset

We cover Chapter 116 in Tintinalli's Emergency Medicine (8th ed) and Rosen's on pediatric fever.

Visit FOAMcast.org for more information and thanks for listening!

-Jeremy Faust and Lauren Westafer

Episode 66 - Back Pain and Spinal Epidural Abscess Mar 12, 2017

Show notes

We cover a post from the fantastic St. Emlyn's team which breaks down a recently published article in Annals of Emergency Medicine comparing diazepam with placebo in patients with acute low back pain. We recommend you read the full text of the article by Friedman et al.

We delve into core content on red flags in back pain and spinal epidural abscess using Rosen's Emergency Medicine and Tintinalli's Emergency Medicine Chapter 279 as a guide.

visit FOAMcast.org for show notes and more information.

Thanks for listening! Lauren Westafer and Jeremy Faust

Episode 65 - Contrast Induced Nephropathy and Genitourinary Trauma Feb 28, 2017

Show notes

We cover Free Open Access Medical Education (FOAM) on Contrast-Induced Nephropathy (CIN). Recent interes

The American College of Radiology (ACR) Manual on Contrast Induced Nephropathy

This Emergency Medicine Literature of Note post covers the AMACING trial, which looks at intravenous fluid administration (0.9% NaCl) versus usual care in patients "at risk" for CIN undergoing contrast-enhanced CT scan. The study found a difference of -0.1% (95% CI -2.25 to 2.06), which was below the non-inferiority margin. Prior literature shows similar results, with no clear-cut efficacy from prevention strategies for CIN.

This post by Dr. Joel Topf (nephrologist @kidneyboy) on the Precious Bodily Fluids blog discusses a nephrologist's take on CIN.

EM topics post on fluids in CIN.

Core Content

We then delve into core content on genitourinary trauma using Rosen's Chapter 47 and Tintinalli's Chapter265 as a guide.

Thanks for listening! Jeremy Faust and Lauren Westafer

Episode 64 - Lumbar Punctures and Meningitis Feb 18, 2017

Show notes

Ultrasound is gaining popularity in assisting lumbar punctures (LPs). We review this technique as well as Free Open Access Medical Education (FOAM) from the following sites: 5 Min Sono, Sinai EM, and PEM pearls from ALiEM.

We then delve into core content on meningitis, encephalitis, and antiNMDA receptor encephalitis using Rosen's Chapter 109 and Tintinalli's Chapters 117 and 174 as a guide.

Thanks for listening!

Jeremy Faust and Lauren Westafer

Episode 63 - Bradycardias Jan 24, 2017

Show notes

We cover FOAM on transvenous pacing from Ultrasound Podcast, Dr. Jason Nomura, and Dr. Al Sachetti

Then, we delve into basics on bradycardias using Rosen's Emergency Medicine and Tintinalli's as a guide.

Thanks for listening! Jeremy Faust and Lauren Westafer

Suviving Sepsis Campaign Guideline update Jan 19, 2017

Show notes

The Surviving Sepsis Campaign Guidelines were updated, reflecting some changes carried forward from Sepsis 3.0 that was released in 2016.

In this podcast we go over some of the updates, many of the recommendations that stayed the same.

As a bonus we cover a new study on validation of qSOFA.