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!
Lessons learned over a career: using connectivity to avoid burnout
Before we delve into this, we would like to point out that we're fortunate to have Dr. Paul Pageau (ER Physician and current CAEP president) and Dr. Lorne Wiesenfeld (ER Physician and current Vice-Dean for the PGME) guest writing our final post for wellness week....
Mindfulness: a guide to understanding and minimizing stress
Forget everything you've heard about mindfulness and "living in the moment." These common phrases are overused, and at this point are laden with misunderstandings. Forget the pop-psychology one-liners about mindfulness, the cute little sayings, the iPhone apps, one...
Enhancing wellness: improving work efficiency may be the key
As we delve deeper into wellness week, an important consideration many of us often have is the time we have available to us. Our personal and professional lives are often so chaotic, it is easy to find excuses not to make time for wellness. Here, we will examine some...
#Blessed: Gratitude check
At the beginning of every New Year, many people express their gratitude for those who have positively impacted them in the past year. However, just like New Year's resolutions, these emotions of gratitude quickly seem to fade. As January moves forward we tend to...
How to diagnose your own wellness?
The Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Ottawa has a clear dedication to wellness, demonstrated by the creation of a Director of Wellness position for our academic group. Although the learning curve has been steep, one thing has quickly become clear:...
Welcome to EM Ottawa’s Wellness Week!
In January 2017, a group of residents at CAEP and ACEP put together an Emergency Medicine (EM) Wellness week. We think this was a fantastic initiative that covered the importance of physical and spiritual health, and how to stay well in our challenging working...
Industrial Engineering & Emergency Department Flow
In this post, we'll explore the many exciting applications that concepts borrowed from industrial engineering can have on ED efficiency and workflow. To help build a framework for further discussion, we will define industrial engineering, describe the ED as a complex...
Isopropyl Alcohol Nasal Inhalation for Nausea in the Emergency Department: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Journal Club Summary Methodology Score: 3/5 Usefulness Score: 2.5/5 Question and Methods: This tertiary-care centre, placebo controlled RCT examined whether nasally inhaling isopropyl alcohol provides better nausea relief than normal saline. Findings: At 10 mins,...
Where is the Love? Intimate Partner Violence in the Emergency Department
Intimate partner violence is prevalent worldwide and has a significant economic impact on our healthcare system. This post will discuss: Intimate Partner Violence statistics globally, in Canada, and in Ontario The economic impact of intimate partner violence cases in...
Oxygen Therapy in Suspected Acute Myocardial Infarction
Journal Club Summary Hofmann R, et al. N Engl J Med. 2017 Sep 28;377(13):1240-1249. Methodology Score: 4/5 Usefulness Score: 4/5 Question and Methods: This large, registry-based RCT evaluated the effect of oxygen on patient-centered clinical outcomes...