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!
PoCUS Pearl – Measuring Fetal Heart Rate
We often talk about PoCUS for first-trimester bleeding. Is there an IUP? NDIUP? IDK? Yet one of the most common questions patients ask is; “Can you see the heartbeat?” While measuring fetal heart rate is not always our top priority, I’m here to convince you of the...
Test characteristics of point-of-care ultrasonography in patients with acute kidney injury.
Methodology: 2.5/5 Usefulness: 3.5/5d Gaudreau-Simard M, et al. Ultrasound J. 2024 Feb 22;16(1):15. doi: 10.1186/s13089-023-00352-3. Question and Methods: The authors aimed to determine the test characteristics of point-of-care ultrasonography (POCUS) for detecting...
Tell me an Ultrasonic Love Story – PoCUS for the everyday user
Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) is often taught to answer binary questions, like, "Is there free fluid in the abdomen?" However, when we combine POCUS images with clinical documentation, we are telling a story — and every good story has a beginning, middle, and end....
Acetylcholine vs Dopamine “It’s Not You, It’s Me”
I wrote this piece because understanding diseases by framing them as high or low levels of dopamine, acetylcholine, glutamate, or GABA has significantly improved my grasp of their pathophysiology and treatment strategies. Too often, medicine is taught as isolated...
Measles… its backkkk (again)
In the past year, there's been a growing concern about the rising number of measles cases globally, including in Canada. This resurgence of measles cases in major centers has sparked worry. But is it something we should truly be alarmed about? How concerned should we...
Ottawa POCUS Symposium – 2025
Ottawa POCUS Symposium - Mastering the Pulse FEB 14, 2025 7:30AM-5PM University of Ottawa Skills and Simulation Centre, 725 Parkdale Ave, Ottawa, Ontario Who should attend: Staff and resident physicians and other practitioners who take care of acutely unwell...
By the Hammer of Thora: Pleural Effusions in the ED (Part 2)
Assessing patients with pleural effusions in the emergency department (ED) can be challenging and nuanced. This is largely due to the lack of guidelines around pleural effusions in the ED. In part one we focused on imaging, diagnosis, and management of parapneumonic...
By the Hammer of Thora: Pleural Effusions in the ED (part 1)
Assessing patients with pleural effusions in the emergency department (ED) can be challenging and unclear. This is largely due to the lack of guidelines around pleural effusions in the ED. In this post, I’ve tried to highlight some key information about an approach to...
Rotating Around the Cuff of Shoulder Injuries
Shoulder injuries are a common yet complex presentation in emergency medicine, presenting a unique challenge due to the intricate anatomy and diverse range of potential pathologies, where imaging may not always be helpful. In this post, we will explore the various...
Is Shift Work Shortening your Life?
Social media headlines and evolving literature have highlighted the abysmal life expectancy of emergency room doctors. For example, Dr. Ken Milne, the creator behind The Skeptics Guide to Emergency Medicine, recently shared this post on sobering life-expectancy data...