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!
Subarachnoid Hemorrhage in the ED- What a Headache!
The diagnosis of subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) carries with it remarkable morbidity and mortality. Case fatality rates approach 50% 1,2 Of those who survive, half will experience chronic disability and a significant reduction in health-related quality of...
Association of Checklist Use in Endotracheal Intubation With Clinically Important Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.
Methodology: 3.5/5 Usefulness: 2/5 Turner JS, et al. JAMA Netw Open. 2020 Jul 1;3(7):e209278. Question and Methods: Systematic review and meta-analysis evaluating if checklist use during endotracheal intubation leads to improved patient outcomes. Findings: The authors...
“I’d like to work on my flow today”
You're starting your shift, and you're only moderately caffeinated. You meet your resident and they tell you that their goal for the shift is to "work on flow". You think, cool - let's see how many patients they see today. At least, that's how I thought about it the...
Aortic Dissection – A Needle in a Haystack
A 65-year-old male self-presents to the Emergency Department (ED) with sudden-onset severe chest pain. The pain was sharp, lasted 30 minutes, and has now resolved. His vitals and ECG are normal, and his high-sensitivity troponin testing is negative. He has a normal...
Vector-Borne Illness P2: the Chikun or Zika?
In part one of this two-part series, we took a bite out of Lyme disease and Malaria (see what we did there?). In this part, we'll be covering African tick-bite fever, African sleeping sickness, Dengue, Chikungunya, and Zika. Fever in the returning traveler is always a...
Efficacy of Gabapentin for the Treatment of Alcohol Use Disorder in Patients With Alcohol Withdrawal Symptoms: A Randomized Clinical Trial
Methodology: 3/5 Usefulness: 2/5 Anton RF, et al. JAMA Intern Med. 2020 Mar 9;180(5):1-9. Question and Methods: Blinded randomized control trial comparing gabapentin to placebo in reducing the number of heavy drinking days in alcohol use disorder treatment. Findings:...
Effects of a high-dose 24-h infusion of tranexamic acid on death and thromboembolic events in patients with acute gastrointestinal bleeding (HALT-IT): an international randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial
Methodology: 4/5 Usefulness: 4/5 HALT-IT Trial Collaborators. Lancet. 2020 Jun 20;395(10241):1927-1936 Questions and Methods: This was an international, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial with the objective to quantify the effect of TXA on death due to...
ROTEM in Trauma: Blood is thicker with Wine – Part 2
In Part 2 of ROTEM for Trauma: Blood is Thicker with Wine – we will review the approach to interpreting ROTEM and how it can guide massive transfusion in the injured and bleeding patient. We will also touch on the practical considerations for starting a ROTEM program...
ROTEM in Trauma: Blood is thicker with Wine – Part 1
In this post, we’ll discuss viscoelastic hemostatic assays (VHAs), namely ROTEM (Rotational Thromboelastometry), and how we can use this tool to enhance the care of traumatically injured patients. This is the first in a two-part series. This part reviews the Evidence...
Vector-Borne Illness: Lyme disease and Malaria
In part one of a two-part series on vector-borne illnesses, we seek to take a deep dive into Lyme disease and Malaria. For more on the other vector-borne illnesses, check out part two! The only helpful way to distinguish between all these illnesses is the...