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!
Electrical vs Chemical Cardioversion in ED patients with Atrial Fibrillation (RAFF2)
RAFF2 Ian Stiell and colleagues are back at it with atrial fibrillation; The RAFF2 trial (Electrical versus Chemical cardioversion for Emergency Department patients with Atrial Fibrillation (RAFF2); A partial factorial randomized trial) was published in The Lancet...
Emerging Updates in Septic Shock
In September 2018, Dr. Bram Rochwerg and I wrote a blog post on the treatment of patients with sepsis and septic shock. Much of this was based on the 2016 Surviving Sepsis Campaign (SSc) Clinical Practice Guidelines [1]. However, in a little over a year, significant...
Levetiracetam versus phenytoin for second-line treatment of paediatric convulsive status epilepticus (EcLiPSE): a multicentre, open-label, randomised trial
Methodology: 4/5 Usefulness: 4/5 Lyttle MD, et al. Lancet. 2019 May 25;393(10186):2125-2134. Question and Methods: Eclipse was an open label RCT that evaluated time to seizure cessation in pediatric SE between Keppra and Dilantin Findings: They found that Keppra was...
20 things you can do imperfectly well for Climate Change
And on the 6th day Graham bellowed; “let thee environment be considered among thy seven dimensions of wellness.” And so, the environment was added to the wheel of physical, social, spiritual, occupational, intellectual, financial and emotional wellness. Although I...
A Healthier Future: Innovations for Sustainable Change
On a sweltering night in July, I’m called to see a patient with difficulty breathing. I work in Toronto, where past estimates have placed the number of heat-related deaths at about 120 each year. With Canada heating twice as fast as the world average, that number is...
System Change is Needed to Combat Climate Change
Increasing awareness of the urgency of climate change, led by the youth climate movement, and growing felt impacts of the health effects of climate change, including the devastating bushfires in Australia, are fuelling a global increase in interest in the concepts of...
What can Emergency Physicians do for Planet Wellness?
As a species, we're making bad choices - polluting the planet and making life difficult now, and perhaps impossible in the future. As physicians, it is time to do what you do best: heal the planet. Ok sure, that sounds corny, but take a listen and let me explain how...
I may die from old age, but my children may die from climate change…
I’m a boomer Canadian Emergency physician, with a special interest in climate change. My oral fellowship exam took place in a small hotel room where facial bone x-rays were held up against the Montreal skyline awaiting my interpretation. I went directly from resident...
Danger, Climate Emergency Ahead
I'll admit it, I'm scared. Every day, my newsfeed is filled with more news stories and scientific papers underlining the fact that our society's current trajectory is akin to suicide as a species. As someone who has grown accustomed to civilization, even grown to love...
Introduction to Environmental Wellness
It’s hard to believe that EMOttawa and CAEP (Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians) are hosting the 4th annual Canadian Emergency Medicine Wellness Week (January 20th to 24th 2020)! Over the years, we’ve published blog posts from EM leaders across the country...