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
