Tactical Medicine News Blog

We are incredibly proud and excited to announce the launch of the 2018-19 ALiEM Chief Resident Incubator. Emergency medicine (EM) Chief Residents have recently been selected across North America to help shape and lead EM residency programs. The "CRincubator" will be enrolling its fourth class, building quickly on lessons learned and ongoing feedback from the [+] The post The 2018-19 Chief Resident Incubator enrollment opens TODAY appeared first on ALiEM.

Welcome to season 5, episode 6 of the ALiEM Medical Education in Cases (MEdIC) series! Our team (Drs. Tamara McColl, Teresa Chan, John Eicken, Sarah Luckett-Gatopoulos, Eve Purdy, Alkarim Velji, and Brent Thoma) is pleased to welcome you to our online community of practice where we discuss the practice of academic medicine! This month, we present a case of a young attending physician anxious to return to clinical work after taking a 6-month paternity leave. Check out the case and join the conversation in the comments section! We’d love to hear your thoughts on this important topic!

Background: There have now been several trials published on the use of steroids in sepsis.  In 2002, we had the Annane Trial, with 299 patients showing mortality and shock reversal benefit in sepsis with hydrocortisone.  Then in 2008 we had the CORTICUS trial, with 499 patients, which found a faster reversal of shock, but no benefit in mortality.  Next the HYPRESS trial published in 2016 with 380 patients, with severe sepsis, not septic shock,  showed no difference in mortality or time to reversal of shock.  And finally the ADRENAL Trial published this year with 3800 patients show no difference in mortality, but a small benefit in reversal of shock.  Due to these mixed results, many physicians have variable practice patterns with the use of steroids in sepsis/septic shock.  Now, we have the APROCCHSS trial looking at hydrocortisone plus fludrocortisone for adults with septic shock (By the way the lead author is the same author that published the 2002 steroids in sepsis trial…Annane).

Exceptional communication is essential when providing care to patients in the ED. This is especially true given that we don’t have a preexisting relationship with our patients. They have never seen us before, have little or no information about us, and didn’t choose us. They are typically anxious, uncomfortable, and would probably rather be somewhere else. Exceptional communication allows patients to gain trust in us, in our skills, and in our recommendations. Strong communication skills not only allow physician and non-physician staff to gather relevant information and share important findings, but also help improve healthcare outcomes, reduce misunderstandings, and minimize litigation. Below are 10 pearls, divided into 4 habits, to help you get the most out of the clinical encounter and improve your patient’s care experience.

Background: Over the last three years, we have seen the rise of neurointerventional therapies for patients with ischemic strokes due to large vessel occlusions (LVOs). This group of strokes typically includes patients with occlusion of the distal intracranial carotid artery, middle cerebral artery or anterior cerebral artery. Rapid identification of these patients both in the prehospital setting as well as in the emergency department (ED) may be beneficial as it can lead to mobilization of necessary resources and ordering of proper investigations (CT perfusion, MRI/MRA). While there are a number of clinical scoring systems in place to identify patients with LVO, none are ideal. The authors investigate the utility of the vision, aphasia, neglect (VAN) assessment for this purpose.