Tactical Medicine News Blog

Unless you are living under a rock, many healthcare and public media platforms are talking about the insidious problems with burnout in the health professions world. One thought leader out there is especially vocal about wellness, resiliency, and mindfulness — Dr. Zubin Damania (alter ego: ZDoggMD). For instance, do you know the difference between empathy and compassion, and why that is important to differentiate this as a clinician? We were honored to have him join the Wellness Think Tank to field questions that we peppered at him, specifically around resident wellness.

Background: For many emergency providers, POCUS has become a critical modality in the resuscitation of patients with cardiac arrest. The authors of this paper (The REASON Trial) state that <8% of all OHCA’s survive to hospital discharge; a dismal number.  We already know that shockable rhythms, early defibrillation, early bystander CPR, and ROSC in the field are all associated with increased survival. What we don’t have is large scale evidence that the use of POCUS improves survival with good neurologic outcomes.

Background : For anyone who has taken care of a patient with renal colic, the agony they experience is indelible.  I have had several female patients even tell me that the pain is worse than child birth.  Treatment of renal colic comes down to two key components: treatment of pain and expediting passage of the stone.  Many medications have been tested for the former, and we have discussed the latter on our blog before (HERE and HERE). We had a recent resident journal club discussing a trial comparing IV lidocaine (1.5mg/kg) vs IV morphine (0.1mg/kg) for treatment of pain.

In anticipation of EM Cases Episode 90 on the Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) guidelines with the lead author Dr. Allan DeCaen and Dr. Anthony Crocco, Dr. DeCaen tells his Best Case Ever showing us the value of orchestrated team work and a great example of the saying, "they're not dead until they're warm and dead"... The post Best Case Ever 52 – Pediatric Hypothermia Cardiac Arrest appeared first on Emergency Medicine Cases.

In anticipation of EM Cases Episode 90 on the Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) guidelines with the lead author Dr. Allan DeCaen and Dr. Anthony Crocco, Dr. DeCaen tells his Best Case Ever showing us the value of orchestrated team work and a great example of the saying, "they're not dead until they're warm and dead"... The post Best Case Ever 52 – Pediatric Hypothermia Cardiac Arrest appeared first on Emergency Medicine Cases.