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Lung Protective Ventilation

by Cameron Leafloor | February 1, 2024 | Anesthesiology, cardiac arrest, Critical Care, Featured, Recently Featured, Respirology | 1 Comment

In our first part, we talked about the basics of mechanical ventilation and how to set up the ventilator for the busy ED doc! In part two, we discuss lung protective ventilation and go through a few cases to help solidify what we've learned. If you haven't read part...

Functional Neurologic Disorders

by Maria Berliant | April 11, 2024 | Featured, Grand Round Summaries, Neurology, psychiatry, Recently Featured | 0 Comments

Note: This grand rounds presentation and summary had contributions from Dr. Anne-Marie Abe, a neuropsychiatrist specializing in functional neurological disorders in Ottawa. Patients living with functional neurologic disorders (FND) have been deeply stigmatized...

Nailed it! A guide to Fingertip Injuries

by Caroline Gregory | January 16, 2025 | Featured, Grand Round Summaries, Orthopedics, Recently Featured, Trauma | 0 Comments

A stable and functional fingertip is essential for sensation, fine motor skills, grip strength, and the overall durability and cosmetic appearance of the hand. Fingertips, often the first point of contact during daily activities, are particularly susceptible to...

Mechanical Ventilation Basics

by Cameron Leafloor | January 25, 2024 | Airway, Anesthesiology, cardiac arrest, Critical Care, Featured, Recently Featured, Respirology | 0 Comments

Mechanical ventilation has a lot of nuance associated with it, but a lot of reference guides focus on care in the ICU. There is certainly a need for more practical application for the ED doc or initial setup of patients on the vent. With both ER and ICU experience,...

These are the ‘Roids you are looking for – Steroids in the ED

by Naman Arora | January 9, 2025 | Critical Care, Endocrinology, Featured, Grand Round Summaries, Infectious Disease, Recently Featured | 0 Comments

In the acute care setting, steroids have various usages and indications, but their usage can often be nuanced. From adrenal crises to septic shock, severe community-acquired pneumonia, and even acute pharyngitis, steroids play a pivotal role in managing a variety of...

By the Hammer of Thora: Pleural Effusions in the ED (part 1)

by Alie Wudwud | August 15, 2024 | Anesthesiology, Cardiothoracic Surgery, Critical Care, Featured, Grand Round Summaries, Infectious Disease, Recently Featured, Respirology, Resuscitation | 0 Comments

Assessing patients with pleural effusions in the emergency department (ED) can be challenging and unclear. This is largely due to the lack of guidelines around pleural effusions in the ED. In this post, I’ve tried to highlight some key information about an approach to...

Stable Vaginal Bleeding in Pregnancy

by Caitlin Hutchings | November 21, 2024 | Featured, OBGYN, Recently Featured | 0 Comments

A common Emergency Department (ED) presentation, vaginal bleeding in pregnancy affects approximately 30% of pregnancies in the 1st trimester and 1-2% in the 2nd trimester. About half of these result in pregnancy loss. Here we will use cases to highlight an ED approach...

Posterior Circulation Strokes

by Kathleen O'Connell | March 14, 2024 | Critical Care, Featured, Grand Round Summaries, Neurology, Recently Featured, Resuscitation | 1 Comment

Posterior circulation ischemia accounts for approximately 20-25% of all ischemic strokes and is a significant cause of patient disability. The diagnosis can be extremely challenging as findings are often not typically focal. Posterior strokes are misdiagnosed more...

Invasive Group A Strep (iGAS).. It’s Backkkk (Part 1)

by Max Zworth | July 11, 2024 | cardiac arrest, Critical Care, Dermatology, Grand Round Summaries, Infectious Disease, Recently Featured | 0 Comments

In Fall 2023, I was working an evening shift at a community hospital when we got a patch. A 3-year-old girl was being brought in by EMS with an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. CPR was ongoing, and their ETA was 10 minutes. We prepared the ED for the patient’s arrival....

Delirium revisited

by Simranjeet Singh | October 31, 2024 | Featured, Geriatrics, Grand Round Summaries, Infectious Disease, Recently Featured | 0 Comments

Delirium is a medical emergency. It is characterized by acute disturbance of consciousness, with changes in perceptual disturbances and fluctuation of symptoms. Delirium is often the initial manifestation of an underlying acute illness and can be present before fever,...

We are excited to introduce the Sixth edition of The Ottawa Handbook of Emergency Medicine. Your bedside guide for approaches to various Emergency Medicine presentations.

Highlights of the Sixth edition include the addition of: Oncologic emergencies, approach to the pregnant patient, geriatrics and more!

Going viral – Emergency Medicine in the age of algorithms

by Madison Van Dusen | Apr 9, 2026

“A patient sits in front of you, phone in hand. ‘I think I have POTS… I saw it on TikTok.’” Social media is no longer peripheral to healthcare, it is embedded within it. From how patients interpret symptoms to how clinicians learn, connect, and advocate, digital...

Blood Pressure Targets in Trauma Resuscitation: The New Thinking

by Mathieu McKinnon | Mar 26, 2026

Blood pressure management in trauma is one of the most deceptively complex decisions we make in the emergency department. In the first hour of resuscitation, competing physiologic priorities collide: permissive hypotension may protect clot integrity in hemorrhagic...

PTM Journal Club – Post-intubation Hypotension in Trauma Patients with Severe TBI

by Amanda Mattice | Mar 25, 2026

In this month’s Journal Club, we explored the impact of post-intubation hypotension for critically ill trauma patients with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) in the prehospital setting. Background and Study Objectives Trauma patients present with a variety of...

Signal or Noise? Using Inflammatory Markers Wisely Through a Bayesian Lens

by Lucy Karp | Mar 19, 2026

There seems to be a growing cultural obsession with “inflammation”. Scroll through social media long enough and you’ll find sweeping claims: inflammation is the root of fatigue, weight gain, menstrual cramps, brain fog, and even depression. And alongside this...

Smarter Starts and Safer Stops: Antibiotic Stewardship in the ED

by Mejbel Alazemi | Mar 12, 2026

Antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) is about using the right antibiotic, only when needed, and choosing the appropriate dose, route, and duration. The goal is to treat infections effectively while reducing harm, both to the individual and to the healthcare system. It’s...

PTM Journal Club: Analgesia on the Ski Hill

by Louis Gascon-Tetreault, Josee Malette | Mar 9, 2026

As the ski season peaks in February, learn how intranasal fentanyl as analgesia is becoming the go-to solution for ski patrols, ensuring rapid pain relief for injured skiers right on the hill in this months PTM Journal Club Review. Background and Objectives:...

BHP Corner: Feedback, the Pulse of Progress

by Michael Austin, Josee Malette | Mar 9, 2026

With a new year, comes a new BHP Corner. For those who are new to this part of our EM Ottawa Blog, it is here that we cover up and coming topics of discussion within our Regional Paramedicine Program for Eastern Ontario (RPPEO). Written by the base-hospital...

Vernakalant versus procainamide for rapid cardioversion of patients with acute atrial fibrillation (RAFF4): randomised clinical trial

by Anchaleena Mandal, Christian Vaillancourt | Mar 5, 2026

Methodology Score: 4.5/5 Usefulness Score: 4/5 Stiell IG, et al. BMJ. 2025 Nov 11;391:e085632. doi: 10.1136/bmj-2025-085632. Question and Methods: This is a multi-center, open-label, patient randomised trial comparing the effectiveness and safety of cardioversion with...

PTM Journal Club: Video Laryngoscopy vs Direct Laryngoscopy

by Amanda Mattice | Mar 4, 2026

In this month's Journal Club, we explored the highly debated topic of video laryngoscopy versus direct laryngoscopy and its application in the prehospital setting. Background There exists a breadth of research which compares video laryngoscopy (VL) to direct...

Ketamine or Etomidate for Tracheal Intubation of Critically Ill Adults

by Mathieu McKinnon, Jeff Perry, Shahbaz Syed | Mar 3, 2026

Methodology: 4/5 Usefulness: 4/5 N Engl J Med. 2025 Dec 9. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2511420. Question and Methods: This multi-center, open label RCT of 2359 patients compared 28-day mortality in patients randomized to receiving ketamine or etomidate for their sedation prior...

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