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In: Critical Care, Mass Casualty / Disaster, Pre-Hospital, Trauma

Blast injuries resulting from explosions have the capacity to cause life-threatening multisystem injuries in multiple victims simultaneously. The biggest potential challenge in managing blast injuries is the creation of large numbers of simultaneous critically ill casualties. Once notified of a possible bombing or explosion, Emergency Physicians should immediately consider activatingRead More →

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In: Infectious Disease, Journal Club, Respirology

Journal Club Summary Methodology Score: 2.5/5 Usefulness Score: 3/5 Prins HJ, et al. Eur Respir J. 2019 May 23;53(5).  Question and Methods: The CATCH Study was a multicentre, randomised, controlled open intervention clinical trial comparing CRP guided antibiotics for COPDE vs the Gold Strategy Findings: The study had a 14.5%Read More →

Clam Shell

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In: cardiac arrest, Critical Care, Procedural care, Trauma

Emergency Resuscitative Thoracotomy (ERT) is a potentially lifesaving intervention. It is a true salvage procedure, without which survival is essentially zero, even in indicated scenarios. After reading this post, you’ll be slightly more comfortable should you ever find yourself in a situation where you need to “crack the chest” (i.e.Read More →

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In: Journal Club, Neurology

Journal Club Summary Methodology: 3.5/5 Usefulness: 2.5/5 Ma H, et al N Engl J Med. 2019 May 9;380(19):1795-1803 Editorial: Image-Guided Intravenous Alteplase for Stroke – Shattering a Time Window.  Question and Methods: This was an international, multicenter, randomized, placebo-controlled trial of intravenous tPA in patients with stroke who presented 4.5-9 hours afterRead More →

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In: Orthopedics, Orthopedics

Journal Club Summary Pellatt R, et al. Ann Emerg Med. 2019 Mar 7. pii: S0196-0644(19)30059-9.  Methodology Score: 3/5 Usefulness Score: 3.5/5 Question and Methods: Randomized control trial of 97 adult emergency department patients comparing buddy taping vs. ulnar gutter splinting, in acute, uncomplicated neck of 5th metacarpal (Boxer) fractures. Findings: At 12 weeksRead More →

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In: Airway, Anesthesiology, Critical Care, Journal Club, Resuscitation

Journal Club Summary Casey JD, et al. N Engl J Med. 2019 Feb 28;380(9):811-821. Methodology Score:  3.5/5 Usefulness Score: 3.5/5 Question and Methods: Multicenter, unblinded RCT in 7 ICUs comparing rates of hypoxia in patients undergoing BVM vs no ventilation during the period between induction and laryngoscopy. Findings: Compared to no ventilationRead More →