Life in the Fast Lane Medical Blog
Emergency Medicine education blog
It has been many years since I first read ‘The House of God’ by Samuel Shem, back before I even started medical school. It made me wonder what the hell I was getting myself into… But a lot has changed in medicine since the Fat Man was a resident, is the book still relevant?
John Snow, one of the first anaesthetists (he even chloroformed Queen Victoria!) investigated the 1854 Broad Street cholera outbreak in Soho, London. By mapping the cases of cholera he was able to link transmission of the illness to contaminated water consumed from the Broad Street pump. This hammered a nail in the coffin of the “miasma” theory of cholera transmission (sorry, Egerton!), and heralded the birth of the new science of epidemiology.
Just when you thought your brain could unwind on a Friday, you realise that it would rather be challenged with some good old fashioned medical trivia. Questions such as What causes a painful limb and acute pancreatitis in sugar cane harvesters in the West Indies? and What is Gleet?
UCEM is pleased to announce the introduction of a new test – the Electropenogram.
Professor Throckmorton, our new Head of the Committee Of Continuing Knowledge, was pleased to announce the results of the new BACCHUS-2 trial – a retrospective review of 26832 ED patients showing that although a positive Electropenogram was present in only 26% of the population, that percentage rose to over 80% on Friday and Saturday evenings and to a staggerring 93% on Public Holidays. As yet it is uncertain as to what a positive electropenogram might mean for the patient but some of the LITFL team have their theories…
Verapamil overdose is potentially lethal. Test yourself on how to manage this clinical scenario, including the use of high-dose insulin euglycemic therapy.
Professor Inglebert Struvite Staghorn hails from the village of Calyxia nestled on the anaconda-infested shores of the Amazon River. Although the young Staghorn’s missionary parents encouraged him to study the healing arts, he instead discovered a taste for the art of no-holds-barred fighting…
Traumatology today encompasses such a vast wealth of knowledge that no single surgeon can cope with all this information, and daily clinical life hardly leaves any time for academic research. That’s exactly where the AO Surgery Reference steps in: Here you´ll find all the specialized knowledge you might need in your daily clinical life, accessible online from any office, library or operating room – wherever there is Internet access. – www.aosurgery.org
An index of useful clinical image collections for use primarily by doctors in emergency medicine and intensive care medicine. Includes clinical photographs, dermatology, ophthalmology, radiology, ultrasonography, pathology and microbiology.
Ever started a night shift in the emergency department and felt like you were a hapless conscript at Agincourt on St. Crispin’s day, about to be run down by an army of charging knights? Have you seen fear and powerlessness in the eyes of your colleagues, overwhelmed by the carnage around them and the disarray that surrounds them? If only you had the words to invigorate the team and urge them to battle on…
The writing team at Life in the Fast Lane are humbled to have won an award for the second year in a row – this year the Best Clinical Weblog of 2009. Hopefully we will soon be recognised as a blog by Google and the clinical educational can be extended to a wider audience.
