Tactical Medicine News Blog

We are very excited to present a special installment of the ALiEM Journal Club in collaboration with FeminEM featuring the JAMA article by Jena et al. entitled “Sex Differences in Academic Rank in U.S. Medical Schools in 2014.” 1 Despite correcting for a multitude of metrics such as time since residency completion and research productivity, women remain substantially less likely to attain the rank of full professor at academic centers. To many, this article’s conclusions come as no surprise. This journal club is meant to inspire discussion around gender disparities and brainstorm solutions of equality for all involved in academic medicine.

For many years, end tidal CO2 monitoring initially was helpful in differentiating tracheal versus esophageal intubations. Now with continuous end tidal capnography, providers have access to so much more information during a cardiac arrest resuscitation, as summarized by the recently released 2015 American Heart Association (AHA) recommendations.1 Thanks to Dr. Abdullah Bakhsh from Emory University for a great PV card to help remind us of these key cardiac resuscitation pearls.

Background: Acetaminophen (paracetamol) is commonly used to lower the temperature of patients with fever suspected to be causeed by an infection in both homes across the world and the hospital. There are, however, opposing theories to the utility of decreasing fever in these situations. One side argues that fever places “additional physiological stress on patients,” who are already ill (Young 2015). Removing this source of increased metabolic demand would allow the body to allocate additional resources to fighting infection, respiratory function etc. On the other hand, fever may “enhance immune-cell function” and inhibit further growth and spread of an infecting pathogen (Young 2015). From a simple evolutionary standpoint, fever, which entails a significant cost likely evolved and persists because it benefits the host. To date we don’t have high-level evidence that acetaminophen treatment of fever due to probable infection is beneficial, ineffective, or harmful.

As emergency medicine providers become more proficient in using bedside ultrasonography as a diagnostic tool, it can be difficult to remember all of the normal cutoff values. Is it 3 or 5 mm as the cutoff? Thanks to the team at UCSF (Dr. Maria Beylin, Dr. Scott Fischette, and Dr. Nate Teismann) for creating a succinct PV card listing the key numbers to remember. You can download this PV card into your mobile device as a reference guide, or you can even print and attach to each of your ultrasound machines!

There has been a lot of debate over the recent years about the safety of crystalloid fluid therapy in acutely ill patients. Several observational studies have shown an increased risk of acute kidney injury (AKI)  with the use of normal saline (NS). Other observational studies have shown a decreased risk of AKI when using a buffered solution (Hartmann’s solution, Plasma-Lyte (PL)). What is the best fluid to give to our patients who need fluid resuscitation? The answer to this question is not known, but another step in finding the answer was taken with the release of the SPLIT trial online by JAMA on October 7, 2015.