The Skeptics Guide to Emergency Medicine

Date: July 9, 2026 Reference: The ARISE FLUIDS Investigators. Vasopressors or Fluids in Early Septic Shock. NEJM June 2026.  Guest Skeptic: Dr. Aaron Skolnik is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at the Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine and Vice Chair of Critical Care Medicine at Mayo Clinic Arizona.  He is board-certified in Emergency […] The post SGEM#514: Every Time You Go Awa...

Date: June 23, 2026 Reference: Tagg A, et al. Everything is awesome: Don’t forget the Lego. J Paediatr Child Health. 2019 We recorded this SGEM episode live at the Don’t Forget the Bubbles conference in Glasgow, Scotland. Dennis and I had just given an hour presentation on how to build better critical appraisal skills. It […] The post SGEM#513: Everything is Awesome – Unless You Swallo...

Date: June 12, 2026 Guest Skeptic: Mr. Ross Fisher. Ross is a paediatric surgeon, presentation guru (P-Cubed), and long-time friend of the SGEM.  Reference: Talan et al. Nonoperative Treatment of Appendicitis and Implications for Emergency Department Management: A Narrative Review. Ann Emerg Med. June 2026 Case: A 29-year-old healthy man presents to the emergency department […] The post SGEM...

Date: April 21, 2026 Guest Skeptic: Lauren Openshaw is a medical student at the George Washington University School of Medicine & Health Sciences, Class of 2027, where she is a part of the Disaster Medicine Scholarly Concentration. Her clinical interests include pediatrics, disaster medicine, critical care, and emergency preparedness, particularly as they relate to protecting vulnerable [&#823...

Date: May 20, 2026 Guest Skeptic: Dr. Matt McArthur is an ED Physician working primarily in Guelph and Kitchener with occasional rural locums in the small town of Walkerton, where he grew up. His clinical interests include POCUS, emergency cardiology, QI, knowledge translation, motivational interviewing, and vertigo. He is very active in medical education, including […] The post SGEM#511: I’...

Reference:  Perry DC, et al. Non-surgical casting versus surgical reduction for children with severely displaced distal radial fractures (the CRAFFT Study): a multicentre, randomised, controlled non-inferiority trial and economic evaluation. Lancet April 2026. Date: May 8, 2026 Guest Skeptic:  Dr. Andrew (Andy) Tagg is an Emergency Physician with a special interest in education and lifelong learni...

Date: April 23, 2026  Guest Skeptic: Dr. Manrique Umaña McDermott is an attending physician specializing in Emergency Medicine based in San José, Costa Rica. He has a passion for medical education, is a renowned international speaker and serves as a faculty member in undergraduate Internal Medicine at UCIMED and postgraduate training programs in Emergency Medicine […] The post SGEM#509: I lo...

Reference: Burstein B, et al. Prediction of Bacteremia and Bacterial Meningitis Among Febrile Infants Aged 28 Days or Younger. JAMA. Published online December 08, 2025. Date: April 3, 2026 Guest Skeptic: Dr. Margarita Ramos is a pediatric hospitalist at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C., and Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the George Washington University […] The post SGE...

Date: April 2, 2026   Reference: Lee et al. GRADE-Based Clinical Practice Guidelines for Emergency Department Delirium Risk Stratification, Screening, and Brain Imaging in Older Patients With Suspected Delirium. AEM Feb 2026 Guest Skeptic: Dr. Christina Shenvi is a board-certified emergency physician, educator, keynote speaker, coach, and academic leader. She is widely recognized for her work [&#8...

Date: March 23, 2026 Guest Skeptic: Dr. Christina Shenvi is a board-certified emergency physician, educator, keynote speaker, coach, and academic leader. She is widely recognized for her work in geriatric emergency medicine, faculty development, and professional identity formation in emergency medicine (EM). She brings deep clinical expertise along with thoughtful perspectives on systems-level cha...

Date: March 26, 2026 Guest Skeptic: Dr. Robert Leeper is a trauma surgeon at the London Health Sciences Centre and an ATLS instructor who has helped train generations of physicians in trauma care. He has previously joined SGEM for: SGEM #200 – Bloodletting and Alexander Hamilton SGEM #256 – RLQ Pain and Appendectomy SGEM #345 – Non-operative Management […] The post SGEM Xtra: This One Goes t...

Reference: Wong KH, et al. Improving Use of Oral Antihistamines in a Children’s Hospital. Pediatrics. Feb 2026; Date: March 15, 2026 Guest Skeptic: Dr. Stephanie Kubala is an attending physician in the Division of Allergy and Immunology at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. She is double board-certified in both pediatrics and allergy and immunology. Case: A […] The post SGEM#506: Aww I’m I...

Date: March 11, 2026 Reference: RENOVATE Investigators and the BRICNet Authors; High-Flow Nasal Oxygen vs Noninvasive Ventilation in Patients With Acute Respiratory Failure: The RENOVATE Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA March 2025 Guest Skeptic: Dr. Rory Spiegel is an emergency medicine and critical care physician known for his work in evidence-based medicine and critical care. He […] The pos...

Date: March 5, 2026 Today, we’re not in the studio. We’re not in Canada. We’re not even in North America. We are in Oxford. And not just Oxford, we are recording this SGEM Xtra in a pub. This will be the second-ever SGEM PUBcast. We need to travel back in time to 2012 for the […] The post SGEM Xtra: It’s My Life – DPhil in Oxford first appeared on The Skeptics Guide to Emergency Medicine .

Date: February 26, 2026 Guest Skeptic: Terry O’Reilly is the host of the long-running and popular podcast Under the Influence. He is also an acclaimed storyteller and book writer. However, Terry is not just some radio host talking about marketing; he was an adman on the front lines, working in the trenches for 35 years […] The post SGEM Xtra: You say you want a revolution – well you know – A...

Reference: . Timing of repeat epinephrine to inform paediatric anaphylaxis observation periods: a retrospective cohort study. Lancet Child & Adolescent Health. July 2025 Guest Skeptic: Dr. Kammeron Brissett is a pediatric emergency medicine fellow at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, DC. She completed her pediatrics residency and a chief year at Rainbow Babies and Children’s […...

Date: February 13, 2026 Reference: Lang et al. Factors associated with emergency department length of stay in Alberta: a study of patient-, visit-, and facility-level factors using administrative health data. CJEM. 2026 Jan 29. Guest Skeptic: Dr. Paul Parks is an emergency physician from Medicine Hat, Alberta. He has been the President of the Alberta […] The post SGEM#503: Waiting is the Har...

Date: January 3, 2026  Reference: Shroyer et al. Accuracy of cath lab activation decisions for STEMI-equivalent and mimic ECGs: Physicians vs. AI (Queen of Hearts by PMcardio). Am J Emerg Med. 2025 Nov. Guest Skeptic: Dr. Amal Mattu has been on the faculty at the University of Maryland since 1996. He has developed an academic […] The post SGEM#502: Playing with the Queen of Hearts – AI, Is I...

Date: January 6, 2026  Guest Skeptic: Darren McKee is an author and speaker. He has served as a senior policy advisor and policy analyst for over 17 years. Darren hosts the international award-winning podcast, The Reality Check. He is also the author of an excellent, thought-provoking book called Uncontrollable: The Threat of Artificial Superintelligence and the […] The post SGEM Xtra: Machi...

Reference: Aronson PL, et al. Prediction Rule to Identify Febrile Infants 61–90 Days at Low Risk for Invasive Bacterial Infections. Pediatrics. September 2025 Date: January 6, 2026 Guest Skeptic: Dr. Jillian Nickerson is a pediatric emergency medicine attending at Children’s National Hospital and Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Emergency Medicine at The George Washington University […]...

Date: January 17, 2026 Reference:  Casey et al. RSI Investigators and the Pragmatic Critical Care Research Group. Ketamine or Etomidate for Tracheal Intubation of Critically Ill Adults. NEJM. 2025 Dec Guest Skeptic: Dr. Scott Weingart is an ED Intensivist from New York. He did fellowships in Trauma, Surgical Critical Care, and ECMO. Scott is best […] The post SGEM#500: Don’t You Want Me – Et...

Date: January 5, 2026 Reference: Robblee et al. 2025 guideline update to acute treatment of migraine for adults in the emergency department: The American Headache Society evidence assessment of parenteral pharmacotherapies. Headache 2025 Dec Happy New Year, SGEMers! What better way to start 2026 than with an SGEM Xtra about migraine headaches? We were originally […] The post SGEM Xtra: Hit M...

Date: December 23, 2025 Reference: Todd et al. Antihypertensive prescription is associated with improved 30-day outcomes for discharged hypertensive emergency department patients. J Am Coll Emerg Physicians Open. 2024 Guest Skeptic: Dr. Mike Pallaci is a Professor of Emergency Medicine at Northeast Ohio Medical University and a Clinical Professor of Emergency Medicine at Ohio University […]...

Date: November 27, 2025  Guest Skeptic: Dr. Justin Morgenstern is an emergency physician and the creator of the #FOAMed project called www. First10EM.com Case: You are looking after a 65-year-old man who appears to be in septic shock. He presented after five days of fever and cough, and is now severely lethargic and hypotensive on arrival. You […] The post SGEM#498: Andromeda – Cap Refill Ti...

Date: Dec 17, 2025 Reference: Pagnini F, et al. Unexpected events and prosocial behavior: the Batman effect. npj Mental Health Research. November 2025 Guest Skeptic: Dr. Dennis Ren is a pediatric emergency medicine physician at Children’s National in Washington, DC. You may also know him as the host of SGEM Peds. Case: It’s been a dark, […] The post SGEM#497: We Could be Heroes – Just with a...