We are excited to introduce the Fifth edition of The Ottawa Handbook of Emergency Medicine. Your bedside guide for approaches to various Emergency Medicine presentations.
Highlights of the Fifth edition include the addition of: general surgery emergencies, pediatric orthopedic presentations, and updates in pediatric fever + more!
Blast Injuries: What you Need to Know!
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...
Pregnancy-Adapted YEARS Algorithm for Diagnosis of Suspected Pulmonary Embolism
Journal Club Summary Methodology Score: 4.5/5 Usefulness Score: 4.5 /5 van der Pol LM, et al. N Engl J Med. 2019 Mar 21;380(12):1139-1149 Question and Methods: Using a prospective cohort study of 510 pregnant women, the authors were trying to see whether an algorithm...
CRP-guided antibiotic treatment in acute exacerbations of COPD in hospital admissions
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...
Resuscitative Thoracotomy in the Civilian and Military Environments
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...
Thrombolysis Guided by Perfusion Imaging up to 9 Hours after Onset of Stroke
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,...
Updates in Prehospital and Transport Medicine
There was a significant amount of pre-hospital research published in 2018; many trials were that will no doubt inform future guidelines and change practice. This post seeks to look at some of the historical features of prehospital research and give us a road map for...
Is Buddy Taping as Effective as Plaster Immobilization for Adults With an Uncomplicated Neck of Fifth Metacarpal Fracture? A Randomized Controlled Trial
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...
Concussion: Complications and Public Safety (Part 3)
In the final post of this 3-part series on concussions, Dr. Erica Lee discusses how to recognize and manage post-concussion complications, and hopes to raise awareness on the legislation and public health burden around concussions. If you haven't already, please refer...
Bag-Mask Ventilation during Tracheal Intubation of Critically Ill Adults
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...
Concussion: Inside the Emergency Department (Part 2)
Welcome to Part 2 of our series on concussions. In this post, Dr. Erica Lee reviews how to make the diagnosis of concussion and manage these patients in the ED. You can review Part 1 of the series for an up-to-date definition of a concussion and Part 3 for a...