#FOAMed Digest No. 1: Total Eclipse of the Heart

Welcome to the very first edition of the WUEMR FOAMed Digest! The Social Media Committee hopes with this segment to parse out from the overwhelming FOAMed universe a few of the most high-yield pieces of highest relevance to the general EM trainee. We hope to deliver this in an easily digestible format that you can realistically work through over a week – even if you’re stuck in an ICU.

Each post will contain several sections:

1. Three Stars: Three of the best-of-the-best from the FOAMed world published in the past week or so.

2. Oldie But Goodie: The FOAMed universe has been around long enough that there’s already a good number of very well-done and highly informative blog posts and podcasts.

3. Free (For Now) Open Access Med Ed: F(FN)OAMed for short. There are some great resources out there that are not free to the vast majority of EM practitioners but, due to your EMRA membership being graciously covered via the residency and MoCEP, you have access to them. Most notably, your EMRA membership allows you subscription to the EM:RAP podcast and the EB Medicine resources – EM Practice, EM Critical Care, etc. You should take advantage of this opportunity while you can, and this section will help you do so. (Contact your friendly local Social Media Committee member if you need help setting up your access.)

4. The Gunner Files: The Social Media Committee recognizes that, with this being Wash U and all, some of you will always be overachieving. So we’ll include a few extra selections for those of you that have a more insatiable FOAMed appetite.

Without further ado, let’s kick the tires and light the fires.

This week, “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” will focus on care of various cardiac conditions.

Three Stars:

1. Ever heard of Wellens’ Syndrome? If you have any hope of passing your boards one day, you should. Not mention that whole “you shouldn’t miss a critical EKG finding that portends certain doom” thing. Never fear, Salim Reazie, author of the excellent R.E.B.E.L.-EM blog, has you covered. 

(Don’t miss the links list at the bottom that highlights posts from other top-notch FOAMed resources!)

2. Syncope is one of those presenting complaints that really must be approached in a systematic manner. The grandmaster of EM EKG interpretation, Amal Mattu, reviews the differential while highlighting the characteristic EKG findings of a can’t-miss diagnosis.

3. Okay, so DKA isn’t exactly a “cardiac” condition – but the worst-case-scenario is still hemodynamic collapse, right? It counts. The EBM gurus over at Anand Swaminathan’s blog EMLyceum give you the latest & greatest when it comes to evidence-based care of DKA.

Oldie But Goodie:

So you’ve achieved the nigh-impossible – achieved sustained ROSC in an OHCA patient. Now what? The reigning American Idol of EM Critical Care, Scott Weingart, tells you what in an excellent two-part interview with one of the lead authors of the TTM trial, Stephen Bernard.

F(FN)OAM:

Worst-case scenario #137: Running ACLS on a patient brought in with PEA arrest. As CPR continues, the staff looks to you. “Uhhhhhh…more Epi?” Like all things resus, you need a systematic approach. The smart dudes over at EM:RAP, along with EM cardiology expert Amal Mattu, review a newly published paper that will help you do just that in the August 2014 edition.

PubMed link to the paper itself here.

(Once again, contact the Social Media Committee if you need helping subscribing to EM:RAP.)

The Gunner Files:

1. Excellent review article from the journal Emergency Medicine Australasia covering that bane of the overnight Deuce shift. No, not vaginal discharge – dental pain.

2. EMLyceum deals in pearls once again when addressing ocular emergencies.

3. Ryan Radecki over at EMLitofNote looks at a very interesting paper just published in JAMA regarding the use of pulse oximetry and dispo of bronchiolitis patients. 

(And as always, be sure to read the original paper for yourself!)

4. My FOAMed man-crush, Rory Spiegel of EMNerd, tackles the C-spine injury algorithm debate.

5. The Aussies over at St. Elmyn’s get you straightened out when dealing with the breathless patient in the ED. Incredibly high-yield for new ‘terns, but useful for docs of all ages.

Now get to FOAMing! 

As always, comments/concerns/criticisms are appreciated!

C. Sam Smith, PGY-3