Tactical Medicine News Blog

First and foremost, international emergency medicine (IEM) is a big tent. We’ve got clinicians with an interest in tropical medicine and trauma, systems experts, inventors, educators, missionary families, public health experts, thrill-seekers, and policymakers. A disaster response specialist who has a “go bag” packed at all times ready for deployment belongs in this tent, as does an epidemiologist based in the U.S. who analyzes data on cholera outbreaks in refugee camps. Because it’s a relatively new specialty there is the occasional squabble about what does and does not constitute IEM, but generally we agree that we are working together to improve the state of health for people in our world. Our specialty allows us to work in a multitude of settings and clinical environments, something that no other specialty can do.

I know, I know. We here at REBEL EM are normally very clinically oriented. We take recent articles or hot topics and give you the breakdown and clinical take home points. But a recent event happened that made me look at my own practice, and now on the other side, I feel that I am a better doctor. The hospital I was working at as medical director of the Emergency Department (ED) closed its doors. This was a hospital that had been in the community for more than 60 years. I won’t go into the reasons for closure, but rather, I would like to tell the story from the side of the ED provider and what I had to change until the lights were turned out.

Pain leads to suffering. Opioid misuse leads to suffering. We strive to avoid both for our patients. On the one hand, treating pain is one of the most important things we do in emergency medicine to help our patients and we need to be aggressive in getting our patients' pain under control in a timely, [...] The post Episode 74 Opioid Misuse in Emergency Medicine appeared first on Emergency Medicine Cases.

Pain leads to suffering. Opioid misuse leads to suffering. We strive to avoid both for our patients. On the one hand, treating pain is one of the most important things we do in emergency medicine to help our patients and we need to be aggressive in getting our patients' pain under control in a timely, [...] The post Episode 74 Opioid Misuse in Emergency Medicine appeared first on Emergency Medicine Cases.

Pain leads to suffering. Opioid misuse leads to suffering. We strive to avoid both for our patients. On the one hand, treating pain is one of the most important things we do in emergency medicine to help our patients and we need to be aggressive in getting our patients' pain under control in a timely, [...] The post Episode 74 Opioid Misuse in Emergency Medicine appeared first on Emergency Medicine Cases.