Tactical Medicine News Blog

In this new installment in the “How I Work Smarter” series, we are featuring Dr. Mike Mallin (@UltrasoundPod), who is half of ultrasound education royalty with Dr. Matt Dawson, who was featured last week in this series. Mike’s work is impressive and I often cite and quote his 2014 publication in Academic Medicine entitled “A survey of the current utilization of asynchronous education among emergency medicine residents in the United States” [Pubmed]. Genius idea for a paper, which no one has done before. Mike was kind enough to share his sage words of wisdom. Did you know he has sub-macros for his macros? #MindBlown 

The Case of the Backroom Blunder presented us with an interesting scenario that riveted readers across the globe.  In this case, Trevor the medical student overhears the conversation of two of his senior colleagues discussing and laughing about a recent resuscitation.  The senior members of the team used terms like ‘frequent flyer’, ‘red underpants’, which greatly upsets Trevor.  In his opinion: “A caring doctor would never talk like that. And the slang? That’s just awful.”  What did the ALiEM community think of this case?  Well, read on to gleam the summaries, or go directly to the blog discussion to read what people wrote!

Insect removal from the ear is a foreign body removal procedure with unique considerations. First, insects are friable. Have you ever squashed a house centipede? It’s like their 700 legs are spring-loaded to fall off instantly when touched. This characteristic makes mechanical removal by alligator forceps or cerumen loops less reliable. Second, they are alive which means they can move during your attempted extraction procedure.

Welcome to the third ALiEM Approved Instructional Resources (AIR) Module! In an effort to reward our readers for the reading and learning they are already doing online, we have created an Individual Interactive Instruction (III) opportunity utilizing FOAM resources for U.S. Emergency Medicine residents. For each module, the board curates and scores a list of blogs and podcasts. A quiz is available to complete after each module to obtain residency conference credit. Once completed, your name and institution will be logged into our privatedatabase, which participating residency program directors can access to provide proof of completion.

If you believe that coping with some of the people we deal with in emergency medicine is difficult or impossible, you’re not alone. We all feel this way from time to time. Managing difficult patients can be a challenge to the health care provider and to the entire ED. The hostile aggressive patient, the demanding patient, the know-it-all, the excessively anxious patient, and the incessant complainer, are some of the folks that we need to know how to manage effectively. If we fail to handle these patients appropriately, they may receive suboptimal care, grind patient flow to a halt, and delay care of other patients. If the staff has to deal with a multitude of these patients on a given shift, there’s a sort of swarm-based escalation in frustration and sometimes, unfortunately, a total breakdown of effective patient communication and care. But don't fret. In this one-of-a-kind podcast on effective patient communication and managing difficult patients, Dr. Walter Himmel, Dr. Jean-Pierre Champagne and RN Ann Shook take us through specific strategies, based on both the medical and non-medical literature, on how we can effectively manage these challenging patients. As a bonus, we address the difficult situation of breaking bad news with a simple mnemonic and discuss tips on how to deliver effective discharge instructions to help improve outcomes once your patient leave the ED. The post Episode 51 Effective Patient Communication – Managing Difficult Patients appeared first on Emergency Medicine Cases.