Tactical Medicine News Blog

Do you send some of your low-risk patients with pulmonary embolism home? This is a controversial issue which warrants a look at risk stratification tools. The primary one used is the validated Pulmonary Embolism Severity Index (PESI) score. In Lancet 2011, the authors looked at whether PESI class I and II (low risk) patients could be managed safely as outpatients. It turns out in their study, regardless of whether their PESI class I and II patients were treated as outpatients and inpatients, all fared equally well from a complications standpoint (recurrent clot, bleeding from anticoagulation).

Medical education high-fidelity simulation allows for deliberate practice in a safe environment. We are able to miss the intubation repeatedly or botch up the management of aspirin overdose without the demise of the patient.  At the end of each session, we gather in a pow wow and debrief…. I have been involved with debriefings, and often wonder what residents are thinking: Do they understand what debriefing means? Do they think this is the time where they are scolded for mistakes? Do they think it is a valuable part of the simulation? What does debriefing even mean? 

Seth Godin, a marketing guru, discusses his opinion about “what school is for” in this above video. Although this talk or Seth Godin are not directly related to medical education, this is still related to education and can still be applied to today’s medical education curriculum in many aspects. Mr. Godin goes on to explain that school was modeled in the industrial age and has changed little ever since. The video covers such concepts as: Standardized exams in the industrial age were used as a tool to sort students. The person who created the standardized exams later on came to believe that the standardized exams were too crude, but due to his new conclusions he was excluded from his field. Teachers in the industrial age believed that school was about teaching obedience and respect. The industrial revolution created products en mass, but also needed people who were educated on consuming these products in order to survive. Therefore, schools were also created to educate people (or make replicas of people) about these products.

Identify the antihypertensive agent: 1. Rapid acting systemic and coronary artery vasodilator with minimal effects on cardiac conductivity or inotropy. Well studied in pregnancy. Caution in patients with left ventricular failure, liver cirrhosis Answer: Nicardipine 2. Predominantly dilates the venous system. Useful in patients with cardiac ischemia, pulmonary edema, or congestive heart failure. Caution in patients [+] The post Take the quiz: Do you know your antihypertensive agents? appeared first on ALiEM.

Today is the second day of the International EM Faculty Development and Teaching Course hosted at the University of Maryland by Dr. Rob Rogers and Dr. Amal Mattu. Although unable to attend, I have been able to be a virtual participant in real-time for many parts of the large-group didactic sessions. Have you heard of Livestream?