Milrinone as Compared with Dobutamine in the Treatment of Cardiogenic Shock
Methodology: 3.5/5 Usefulness: 3.5/5 Mathew R, et al. N Engl J Med. 2021 Aug 5;385(6):516-525. Question and Methods: The authors performed a double-blinded RCT to determine if milrinone was superior to dobutamine for the treatment of cardiogenic shock in the ICU. ...
Ottawa POCUS Symposium
Do you want to take your POCUS game to the next level? Then look no further than the Ottawa POCUS Symposium. This symposium will offer some of the best POCUS teachers in Ottawa and Nationwide. Who should attend this conference? Staff and resident physicians and other...
Efficacy of ketamine for initial control of acute agitation in the emergency department: A randomized study
Methodology: 2.5/5 Usefulness: 3/5 Lin J, et al. Am J Emerg Med. 2021 Jun;44:306-311. Question and Methods: Open-label prospective study comparing the efficacy and safety of ketamine versus haloperidol plus lorazepam in the treatment of acute combative agitation in...
Tacit Knowledge: The ER Physician’s Secret Weapon
Onboarding and transition to independent practice are challenging (1–3). New attending physicians need knowledge to function in novel roles (4), (Yeung, Cheung et al, personal communication) However, this knowledge is often tacit. By improving our understanding of ...
Human Trafficking in the Emergency Department
The United Nations (UN) defines human trafficking (HT) as "the recruitment, transport, transfer, harbouring, or receipt of a person by such means as threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, abduction, fraud, or deception for the purpose of exploitation". HT...
Prospective, Multicenter, Controlled Trial of Mobile Stroke Units
Methodology: 2.5 5 Usefulness: 2.5/5 Grotta JC, et al. N Engl J Med. 2021 Sep 9;385(11):971-981. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2103879. Question and Methods: This study investigated if mobile stroke units (MSU) alter outcomes when compared to standard management by emergency...
Dynamic ECG Changes…
You're working a night shift when you are handed the following ECG from triage in a 50 year old male, with no past medical history, presenting with chest pain: What abnormalities do you notice? What is your approach? Interpretation...
Angiography after Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest without ST-Segment Elevation
Methodology: 4/5 Usefulness: 4/5 Desch S, et al. N Engl J Med. 2021 Aug 29. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2101909. Question and Methods: This multi-center, open label RCT of 558 patients with OHCA without ST elevation on their ECG compared 30-day all-cause mortality...
The Anxiety Prescription
It is with increasing frequency that we are seeing higher volumes of patients presenting to their family physicians and the Emergency Department with complaints related to anxiety. It was certainly an issue that was noticed pre-COVID19, but the effect that the...
Effect of C-Reactive Protein-Guided Antibiotic Treatment Duration, 7-Day Treatment, or 14-Day Treatment on 30-Day Clinical Failure Rate in Patients with Uncomplicated Gram-Negative Bacteremia: A Randomized Clinical Trial
Methodology: 1/5 Usefulness: 1/5 von Dach E, et al. JAMA. 2020 Jun 2;323(21):2160-2169. doi: 10.1001/jama.2020.6348. Question and Methods: In a multi-center, noninferiority, randomized, double-blinded clinical trial, the authors compared the rates of...