EM Pulse Podcast™

Heartbeat: The Mind of an Airway Enthusiast We sit down with EM legend and airway guru, Dr. Rich Levitan. Dr. Levitan is a self-proclaimed airway enthusiast who has published extensively on laryngoscopes and airway management. He currently works clinically, mainly in rural, critical care access hospitals, and travels the country and the globe speaking and teaching courses on airway management.&#16...

“Hot” Off the Press: Infant Fever Rule – Episode 15 Talking about neonatal fever makes most people hot under the collar! Fortunately, PECARN is on the case. Their latest paper was just published TODAY in JAMA Peds: A Clinical Prediction Rule to Identify Febrile Infants 60 Days and Younger at Low Risk for Serious Bacterial Infections . In this month’s episode, we learn about some the cha...

Treat others not as you want to be treated but as they want to be treated. Mai Lee, RN and Dan Colby join us to share some stories and talk about how culture can impact our care in the ED and what we can do about it. Let’s continue the conversation on social media @empulsepodcast or at ucdavisem.com . Host: Dr. Julia Magaña , Assistant Professor of Pediatric Emergency Medicine at UC Davis Guest:&#...

#Thisismylane– Episode 14 If you work in the ED, you’ve likely seen your fair share of victims of gun violence. Though mass shootings have brought this issue into the public eye, firearm violence has been a public issue in our country for decades. In this episode, you’ll hear some powerful stories from providers about their experiences with people killed and injured by firearms. Then, we talk with...

Bonus Episode: 2018 in Review Happy New Year! 2018 was a big year for us, thanks to all of you! Here we are, almost 365 days since publishing our first episode, so let’s take a moment to reflect on our first year. We’re closing in on 30,000 downloads and have listeners in all 50 states, 2 territories, and 94 countries. We’ve been featured by several local news outlets, and one of our favorite EM b...

Last Stand in Santa Rosa Imagine you’re working a shift in the Emergency Department when a fast moving wildfire hits. What would you do if you found out your home was burning? Or your family was in danger? And how do you react when the Fire Department tells you they are making a last stand a block away from your hospital? This situation is all too real for many physicians and providers affected by...

Camp Fire medicine What are the medical needs when your WHOLE town burns down? What is it like to walk into a shelter with over a thousand friends and family still missing? What if the evacuees you are caring for are your neighbors? The California wildfires have been huge part of our personal and professional lives at UC Davis. In this Heartbeat we spoke with an EM resident who volunteered at a sh...

Caring for kids in the ED can be challenging – they often can’t (or won’t) tell you what’s wrong or where it hurts; they may have trouble sitting still during an exam or procedure; and their screams put everyone on edge. But let’s think about it from their perspective. It must be pretty confusing and frightening at times. Did you ever have to go to the ED as a kid? Do you remember what it wa...

Heartbeat: The Price of Beauty As Emergency Physicians, we pride ourselves on recognizing and treating life-threatening conditions. But what if we’re missing important diagnoses and we don’t even know it? In this Heartbeat, we explore acute and chronic silicone syndromes, two potentially serious conditions caused by injecting liquid silicone into the body. Dr. Nick Gorton, previously featured on E...

If you have ever worked in an ED, you have taken care of a homeless patient. In fact, you’ve probably taken care of many patients you didn’t even know were struggling with homelessness. As providers, we know these people well. They are often labeled “superusers” and, in addition to sometimes acting as their primary care physicians, we often find ourselves trying to sort out their myriad social iss...

A cool tool. In this episode Dr. Nate Kuppermann (@nkuppermann) discusses another amazing article on the PECARN TBI decision rule just published in JAMA Network Open. The article,  Effect of the Head Computed Tomography Choice Decision Aid in Parents of Children With Minor Head Trauma: A Cluster Randomized Trial, and this episode explores shared decision making in the ED and a cool tool we can use...

Excuse Me, Your Bias is Showing – Episode 10 We all have biases lurking in our unconscious mind. These are our implicit biases, and they affect how we relate to patients and, in turn, how they relate to us. But if these biases are unconscious, how do we identify them? And is it possible to change them? We share our own experiences with implicit bias, and we hear Dr. Rupa Marya’s story that w...

It’s all about Tommie. Way back in March we discussed how “ The Game has Changed ” with Dr. Dr. Gail D’Onofrio and Dr. Josh Elder ( https://twitter.com/joshuawelder ).   They discussed how emergency departments can be a positive part of the opiate epidemic by offering buprenorphine (suboxone). In this episode we find out how the program is going and how the human element (aka Tommie, our substance...

Thriving, not Surviving – Episode 9 Are you well? In this episode we tackle the issue of physician wellness. What does that mean? Why is it a problem? And what can we do to thrive, not just survive, in medicine? We discuss strategies with EM physicians of all levels, including Cal ACEP President, Dr. Aimee Moulin, and Dr. Katren Tyler, Vice Chair of Wellness for the UC Davis Department of Em...

If it Hurts, Don’t do it! Let’s revisit concussion and return to play with UC Davis Head Team Physician, Dr. Jeremiah Ray. This Heartbeat was originally recorded as a Facebook LIVE for the UC Davis Health page . We first talked about concussion in May’s episode, “ Breaking Out of Concussion Jail “. This Heartbeat is a little more casual and offers some practical information for how to recogn...

Dr. R Nick Gorton and Dr. Kara Toles are back to talk about transgender care in the Emergency Department. Did you know you already have the skills to advocate for and care for transgender patients? You do! Let’s sum it up in four words: DON’T BE A JERK! Treat your patients like you’d want your family member to be treated. We’ll explore some of the challenges and concerns specific to transgender pa...

LGBTQI, MD Happy Pride, everyone! June is coming to an end and we’ve enjoyed celebrating all the diverse and beautiful people in our communities. In the spirit of Pride month, this Heartbeat explores what it’s like to be an LGBTQI physician. For those unaware, LGBTQI stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (or questioning), and intersex. Many people also add an A for asexual, or alli...

DKA: It’s Not About the Fluids! – Episode 7 Hot of the presses! We are thrilled to speak with the amazing husband and wife research team of Dr. Nate Kuppermann and Dr. Nicole Glaser, on their practice changing paper that was just, and we mean JUST, published in the New England Journal of Medicine. DKA (diabetic ketoacidosis) is a potentially life threatening condition that can be complicated...

Catching Pee in the ED In this Heartbeat we go over two alternatives to cathing that infant in your ED.   If you had an infant who needed to be cathed, ever seen an infant cathed, or even heard a child cathed, you know it is less than fun. Here are two different, published methods that we attempted, back to back, on an infant…then we ended up doing the cath anyway! Join the conversation on Social...

Breaking Out of Concussion Jail – Episode 6 Suffering a concussion can make you feel like a prisoner, especially if you’re a student athlete. Cameron Wright, a division I water polo player who suffered a concussion last year, knows this first hand. In this episode, he shares his experience with concussion, and how he finally returned to the sport he loves. Dr. Roger Zemek, one of the leading...

Anchors away In this Heartbeat we talk with a child abuse pediatrician who has seen what happens when we can’t see past a single diagnosis. She defines anchoring bias, how it can trip us up, and how to see past it. Join the conversation on Social Media @empulsepodcast or at ucdavisem.com Host: Dr. Julia Magaña , Assistant Professor of Pediatric Emergency Medicine at UC Davis. Guest: Antoinette “To...

Not so FAST – Episode 5 Should we be doing FAST exams on all pediatric trauma patients? In this episode, we hear about a case where the FAST may have saved a child’s life. Then we talk with peds trauma experts, Drs. Nate Kuppermann and Jim Holmes, about their recent study on the utility of the FAST exam in stable pediatric trauma patients. Ultrasound expert, Ken Kelley, shares his thoughts o...

A SAFE PLACE TO COME – HEARTBEAT In this Heartbeat we get a fresh perspective on how you can identify and help victims of human trafficking on your next shift and we revisit a few principles learned in episode #2 – Sold for a Chrysler 300. Join the conversation on Social Media @empulsepodcast or at ucdavisem.com Host: Dr. Julia Magaña , Assistant Professor of Pediatric Emergency Medici...

The Game Has Changed – Episode 4 Let’s talk about the opioid crisis. One woman tells her powerful story of opioid addiction, treatment, and recovery. Then, we discuss the role Emergency Physicians can play in controlling this epidemic with experts, Dr. Gail D’Onofrio and Dr. Josh Elder. How do you manage opioid use disorder in your practice? Join the conversation on Social Media @empulsepodc...

Heartbeat: Flu Update EM Pulse “Heartbeats” are mini episodes focused on current, relevant topics. On this Heartbeat, Dr. Larissa May gives us a brief update on the 2017-18 flu season, recommendations for treating with oseltamivir, and why it’s not too late to get (or give!) the flu shot. You can watch the Facebook Live version of this Heartbeat at facebook.com/UCDavisEM , and join the conversatio...