Emergency Medical Minute

Podcast 1025: Post intubation Sedation Contributor: Aaron Lessen, MD Educational Pearls:   Experts suggest that anyone who is put on a ventilation should be given sedation. When acquiring Rapid Sequence Intubation (RSI) medications and kits, one should also plan their sedation strategy and always consider the patient becoming unstable hypotensive after their intubation.   References Needleman R, D...

Contributor: Taylor Lynch, MD Educational Pearls: Excessive caffeine intake can be dangerous. For normal adults, the toxicity level starts at 1000mg, which is equivalent to about 10 cups of coffee or 5 celsius drinks.  For normal adults, lethal levels are about 5-10 grams, which is equivalent to about 50-100 cups of coffee. Most of these outcomes are not from drinking caffeine, but instead concent...

Contributor: Aaron Lessen, MD Educational Pearls: Case review of a patient with recurrent episodes of syncope and shortness of breath, during which she is found to have intermittent runs of polymorphic ventricular tachycardia Torsades de pointes is polymorphic ventricular tachycardia occurring in the setting of a prolonged QT/QTc Risk of torsades increases substantially when QTc exceeds 500ms Caus...

Contributor: Taylor Lynch, MD Educational Pearls: When a patient who missed dialysis presents to the emergency department, our clinical concern is who needs to be admitted to the hospital for emergent dialysis and who can wait for their next regularly scheduled session. Dialysis sessions typically occur on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, or Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Acronym for indications f...

Contributor: Travis Barlock, MD Educational Pearls: What is pulmonary edema?  Pulmonary edema is the accumulation of fluid initially in the interstitium of the lungs, that when severe enough can also accumulate in the alveolar air sacs. It develops when the rate of fluid filtration through the pulmonary vasculature out-paces the lymphatics ability to drain the fluid.  There are 2 theories for what...

Contributor: Alec Coston, MD Educational Pearls: Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV) Common inner ear condition that can cause dizziness Diagnosis of BPPV can help to avoid admissions and extra imaging Three categories: positional, horizontal, and anterior Positional is the most common  Dizziness is not a positive indicator, a torsional nystagmus must be induced Dix's hallpike maneuver is...

Contributor: Aaron Lessen, MD Educational Pearls:   Blunt cerebrovascular injury (BCVI) BCVI is a traumatic injury to the carotid or vertebral arteries Patients may initially have no neurologic symptoms In some cases, a thrombus can form at the site of the injury and later cause ischemic stroke, sometimes hours after the original trauma CT angiography (CTA) of the neck is a useful screening tool f...

Contributor: Aaron Lessen, MD Educational Pearls: Big question in cardiac arrest: is the rhythm shockable? Shockable: ventricular fibrillation (VF) and pulseless ventricular tachycardia Non-shockable: asystole and pulseless electrical activity (PEA) Rhythm classification is typically based on ECG, but echocardiography can directly visualize myocardial fibrillation Occult VF: a rhythm that appears...

Contributor: Taylor Lynch, MD Educational Pearls:  CPR is an important life-saving measure designed for anyone to perform. Chest compressions works by two mechanisms:  Cardiac pump: Direct squeezing of the heart Thoracic pump: Increasing intrathoracic pressure, causing increased blood flow Proper hand placement per current AHA guidelines:  Hands are placed in the center of the chest, on the lower...

Contributor: Meghan Hurley, MD Educational Pearls: What is hypokalemia? Hypokalemia is when the measured blood level of potassium falls below 3.5 mEq/L (normal 3.5 - 5.2 mEq/L).  Can generally be considered in mild (3.0 - 3.5 mEq/L); moderate (2.5 - 2.9 mEq/L); and severe (

Contributor: Meghan Hurley, MD Educational Pearls: What is hyperkalemia? Hyperkalemia is when the measured blood level of potassium reaches above 5.2 - 5.5 mEq/L (normal 3.5 - 5.2 mEq/L).  What are common causes of hyperkalemia?  Chronic or acute kidney disease. Medications that impact the Renin-Angiotensin-Aldosterone-System (RAAS).  Hypoaldosteronism and primary adrenal insufficiency (Addison's...

Contributor; Aaron Lessen, MD Educational Pearls: A 2026 survey asked Canadian emergency medicine (EM) physicians about their eating and drinking habits while on shift. Among 527 respondents, 35% reported that they never or hardly ever ate during shifts, and 37% said the same about drinking water. Lack of time was the most commonly cited barrier, reported by 91% of respondents. Lack of available f...

Contributor; Taylor Lynch, MD Educational Pearls: Thoracotomy  Thoracotomy is used in traumatic cardiac arrest to replace conventional CPR with direct access to the chest. Goals include identifying and controlling reversible causes of bleeding, prioritizing blood flow to the heart and brain, and performing open cardiac massage. Trauma categories Penetrating trauma: Gunshot wounds and stab wounds....

Contributor: Aaron Lessen, MD Educational Pearls:    Agitated patients who are intoxicated with methamphetamine pose a unique challenge when selecting a sedative to counter their symptoms. Is there a superior medication? A recent study compared the efficacy of commonly used medications for methamphetamine-induced agitation in the emergency department. The study compared IM Droperidol 5mg, IM Olanz...

Contributor: Meghan Hurley, MD Educational Pearls: What animal is the most lethal to humans?  Depending on how we define lethal, and animal, this answer is actually not straight forward.  Globally and in the U.S. the most lethal animal is humans, accounting for ~436,000 to ~20,000 deaths (homicides) per year on average respectively.  In the United States the most lethal animal is of the Hymenopter...

Contributor: Travis Barlock, MD Educational Pearls:   First-pass success is critical to limit complications from apnea, hypoxia, and airway trauma.  Complication rate for patients intubated on the first pass is 14% Complication rates increase to 47% after two attempts, 64% after three, and 71% after the fourth attempt   How to improve likelihood of first-pass success: Use Video laryngoscopy (VL)....

Dan Orbidan, OMS-II and Dr. Travis Barlock, MD discuss a real out of hospital call. This episode covers the implications of a pharmacologically abnormal patient presentation and the pre and post hospital considerations for patient management and care.

Carepoint Journal Club is a quarterly series with discussions about a medical topic, brought to you by Carepoint's Emergency Physicians.

Contributor: Aaron Lessen, MD Educational Pearls:   UTIs are commonly seen in older women We often see them taking long-term prophylactic antibiotics because of common recurrence. Around 20-30% of older women who develop a UTI have a recurrence due to either diagnostic failure, treatment failure or non-compliance with treatment.  UTI signs and symptoms Burning sensation when urinating Strong urge...

Contributor: Aaron Lessen, MD Educational Pearls:  Back pain is a common presenting complaint in the emergency department. Challenges arise when tailoring care to elderly populations using standard medical therapy: Muscle relaxants carry the risk of CNS depression or anticholinergic effects such as urinary retention and confusion. Pain medications such as opiates have side effects including consti...

Contributor: Travis Barlock, MD Educational Pearls:   Caffeine Geography and Types: Caffeine is found throughout the world and has evolved independently in various plants that are not evolutionarily related through direct lineage, but rather demonstrate convergent evolution (i.e. different species evolve the same traits).  These plants use caffeine as an insecticide.  Examples of caffeine sources...

Contributor: Travis Barlock, MD Educational Pearls:   Endocannabinoid System: THC binds CB1 and CB2 receptors in neurons and immune cells Δ9-Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is the main psychoactive compound in cannabis CB1 and CB2 receptors typically bind endogenously-produced 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG) and anandamide (AEA) to regulate pain, stress, and inflammation THC similarly binds CB1 and CB2,...

Contributor: Aaron Lessen, MD Educational Pearls: There has long been many questions about which IV fluid is best for ED resuscitation Multiple adult studies have shown no clear benefit of balanced fluid vs normal saline A large pediatric randomized clinical trial published in April compared balanced fluid vs normal saline in children with septic shock  The study included about 9,000 patients from...

Carepoint Journal Club is a quarterly series with discussions about a medical topic, brought to you by Carepoint's Emergency Physicians.

Contributor: Taylor Lynch, MD Educational Pearls:    Conduction abnormalities are a common and clinically significant complication in patients who undergo transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR)   Clinical Features The most common abnormalities include high grade AV block and new onset LBBB  Due to the close proximity of the aortic annulus to the AV node and His-Purkinje system More common i...