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!
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...
Trial of Pregabalin for Acute and Chronic Sciatica
Journal Club Summary Methodology: 3.5/5 Usefulness: 4/5 Mathieson S, et al. N Engl J Med. 2017 Mar 23;376(12):1111-1120. Question and Methods: Double blind, randomized control trial comparing pregabalin against placebo for reducing leg pain symptoms at 8 weeks in 209...
Concussion: Inside the Head (Part 1)
Head injuries are commonly seen in the emergency department and a large group of these patients will subsequently be diagnosed with a concussion. In this three-part series, we will summarize the most up to date definition of a concussion (Part 1), review how to make...
Early or Delayed Cardioversion in Recent-Onset Atrial Fibrillation
Journal Club Summary Methodology Score: 4/5 Usefulness Score: 2/5 Pluymaekers NAHA, et al. N Engl J Med. 2019 Mar 18. Editorial: The RACE to Treat Atrial Fibrillation in the Emergency Department. Question and Methods: This multicenter, randomized, open-label,...
Prolonged Field Care: Lessons from the Battlefield to the home front
Even without an interest in military or high treat medicine, the science from military conflicts can have a significant influence on the medicine you practice. In fact, a lot can be learned in times of stress and conflict, and every Emergency Physician should have at...
An Update on the ED Management of Acute Ischemic Stroke and TIA
Ischemic stroke is one of Canada’s leading causes of morbidity and mortality. Over the last 30 years, we have observed rapid advances concerning how we identify, respond to, and treat patients with acute ischemic stroke. Because this topic is so vast, the focus of...
Code Orange: Lessons Learned from the Westboro Bus Collision
A Code Orange is a hospital-scale response to any event or group of events that results in a patient influx that outstrips available hospital resources. It realigns the way the hospital functions to support the emergency department and rapidly increases the number of...
Assessing and Finessing: An Airway Update
Securing definitive control of a threatened airway is a fundamental skill in the care of critically ill patients and remains an ever-popular topic of discussion in Emergency Medicine. As Emergency Medicine providers, we find few procedures as satisfying or potentially...
Is PoCUS a reliable predictor of outcome during cardiac arrest?
Sudden cardiac arrest represents a significant cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Over 356,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA) occur annually in the United States, with resuscitative efforts extending into the Emergency Department (ED)...
Full Study Report of Andexanet Alfa for Bleeding Associated with Factor Xa Inhibitors
Journal Club Summary Methodology: 2.5/5 Usefulness: 2/5 Connolly SJ, et al. N Engl J Med. 2019 Feb 7. Question and Methods: This was the first trial looking at clinical outcomes for reversal of factor Xa inhibitor anticoagulation in major bleeding episodes using the...