This week the sensational LITFL Review turns 1 years old!!
The LITFL Review is your regular and reliable source for the highest highlights, sneakiest sneak peaks and loudest shout-outs from the webbed world of emergency medicine and critical care. Each week the LITFL team will cast the spotlight on the best and brightest from the blogosphere, the podcast video/audiosphere and the rest of the Web 2.0 social media jungle.
As you troll through this weeks highlights from the EM/ICU blogging world – have a listen to ZDoggMD new smash hit Big Pharma!
The Most Fair Dinkum Ripper Beaut of the Week
Top spot this week is taken out by new Aussie Blogger Amit Maini over at ED Trauma and Critical Care. Each week Amit bust out the latest and greatest research and inovations from the literature to change you current practice. Well worth checking out his site.
- Deathmatch : Central Access Versus Intraosseous Access. FIGHT! - The IO shines again – time to start using it more!!!
- Posterior Myocardial Infarction – Are We Really This Bad? - the literature is telling us we are. Amit provides some nice pearls for identifying the posterior MI.
- ClotBust-ER, An Ultrasound Device to Aid Stroke Thrombolysis - Amazing how the times are changing.
- Emergency Physicians Should Go HOME - using the HOME pneumonic to assist you in discharging patients home properly.
The Usual Suspects
- Treating Extensor Tendon Injuries in the ED- nothing fancy – just the cold hard facts we need to know about managing these common presentations.
- Retirement? Heck, No! Refocus. Greg Henry on how productivity suffers as our careers age.
- Fugu Me - Leon Gussow gives us the low down on tetrodotoxin… AKA puffer fish poisoning!
Academic Life in Emergency Medicine
- Paucis verbis is back with a look at identifying and managing serotonin syndrome.
- Trick of the Trade: Hip dislocation Part II - a look at the Whistler technique.
- Blog Incubator Experiment: Be the next big thing in blogging- Michelle is giving you the opportunity to become a blogging god or goddess – check out this awesome initiative.
- Joe’s pick of the week this week is by Brian Lin, discussing everything you want to know about head injury protection in rapid sequence intubation.
- The 2nd Annual Alexander Awards: Leon highlits the Best of the Tox Reading of 2011!. A must read post!
- What Color is Your Urine? Leon provides us with the ultimate guide to working what drug has caused a changed in your patients urine colour. Worth knowing about.
- The Same Theme: Large Lateral STEMI is Subtle on the ECG. Learning point: Lateral MI may be very large but electrocardiographically subtle. Inferior ST depression is nearly always seen in lateral MI.
- Extremely subtle inferior MI - great learning points from this case, also check out the study in learning point 4- are we causing more harm by giving these patients opiates?
- Im far too busy drowning to let you know im drowning! After a sad week in Perth with 4 drownings, Ian highlights some key facts about drowning – worth reading!
- More on a Diagnostic Strategy for C-Spine Injuries - Scott is back dealing with the controversy he caused in his first podcast on C-spine injuries, providing us with a review on the literature on using plain films for X-rays. Do they still have a role? – you be the judge!
- Why the Worsening Chest Pain? Great case – the diagnosis isn’t always what you think its going to be!!
- The Highly Sensitive Troponin Test: A Step in the Wrong Direction? - Dr. Amal Mattu on how a high-profile article on the HS-TN has prompted a flurry of uncertainty.
The Rest Of The Best
Pediatric Emergency Medicine Morsles
- This week’s morsel is on Oropharyngeal Trauma – that popsicle stick is such a pain in the neck!
- This week podcast gets down and dirty looking at some ground breaking approach to mechanical ventilation. Todd has a chat with Andreas Schibler on NAVA – Is it the gold standard for synchonised ventilation?
EMpills-pill of Emergency Medicine
- Paroxysmal tachycardia and vagal maneuvers: What is the evidence – a nice review post.
- Inside or outside the hospital: what is best? - should we be managing more patients in the home rather than hospital, does this deliver same outcomes as well as reducing costs – your thoughts?
- We recognize the plantar fasciitis? - although not life-saving, appropriate diagnosis of plantar fasciitis will provide some relief to your patient.
- Algorithm-based Treatment of Hidradenitis Suppurativa - an algorithm approach to this chronic-complicated disease that sometimes presents to emergency departments.
- Following taking out last week’s top spot on their ultrasound approach to cricothyroidotomy. This weeks sore the lads getting some feedback from Scott “i have the sexiest podcast voice” Weingart in EMCrit Cric Commentary - although he doesn’t totally discredit their opinion he provides some interesting food for thought, and gives us his two cents on when it can be used and when it shouldn’t even be considered.
- The wrap up- from last weeks ectopic case, Casey also provides some excellent link’s to pertinent topics surrounding the case.
- Frontline Medicine and EMCrit’s Logistics over strategy - Couldn’t agree more with Andy, the key to a great resuscitation is the team work and logistical approach that delivers the outcomes, and provides the most satisfaction to the team members participating in it.
- Electrical Storm - Andy shares with us a few brief points to help you “calm the storm.”
- Anatomy for Emergency Medicine – #4 LisFranc Injuries
- Mike shares some pearls and pitfalls for imaging the pregnant patient – check out Part 1 and Part 2.
- A short-sharp review on Peripartum Cardiomyopathy.
- How Good is the Pelvic Exam - depends on who is doing it!
Emergency Medicine Literature of Note
- Who Knows If Older Platelets Are More Harmful - another example of the difficulties faced with trauma research.
- Too Many Traumatic Arrests Are Transported - and costing the health system huge dollars.
- Cardiology Corner – More Brugada Tidbits- In Ryan’s words- “A little esoteric, but fascinating.”
- Must We Use IV Paracetamol/Acetaminophen? - Although effective the cost is a major downfall.
Amal Mattu provides us this this pearl on clopidigrel and cardiogenic shock. I wonder if this also applies for Prasugrel.
- Patients with ACS are often treated early with clopidogrel. However, if the patient with ACS appears to be developing cardiogenic shock, its probably best to withhold the early clopidogrel.
- The literature indicates that patients with cardiogenic shock benefit most from emergent PCI, and many of these patients will need CABG. Generally it’s best to avoid clopidogrel in patients heading for CABG.
- The use of clopidogrel in patients with cardiogenic shock can be deferred to the cardiologists in the cath lab once they decide whether the patient will need CABG or not.
- Thiele H, Allam B, Chatellier G, et al. Shock in acute myocardial infarction: the Cape Horn for trials? Eur Heart J 2010;31:1828-1835.
The Trauma Professional’s Blog
- Pulmonary Embolism and DVT in Trauma.- Some interesting facts and figures about DVT and PE in trauma patients.
- How To: Stop Scalp Bleeding. Michael shares his top 5 tips for stopping the scalp bleeder!!
- What You Need To Know About Falls From a Height - all the important factors you need to consider when dealing with this mechanism of injury.
- Spine Immobilisation in Penetrating Trauma: More Harm Than Good?
- Krokodil: Russia’s Designer Drug That Will Eat Your Flesh - a nice review of this menacing street drug!
Twee-D and Twitcal Care
The sound of the blood gas machine calibrating when I want to use it is the sound of my soul dying a painful death.
@bungeechump
Chump
News from the Fastlane
- Yes thats right – this edition of the LITFL review turns 1!!! I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the readers of the review for your support, comments and feedback, to all the bloggers and podcasters for providing the content that makes this review happen, and finally to Chris and Mike for all the help, support and editing they assist me with each review each week. I’m looking forward to bringing you another years of excellent reviews from the EM/ICU blogging world.
- Rick Abbott is back with more writing brilliance in All I Need To Do Is Write A Final Diagnosis, Right?
The Final Words
- “You’re only as old as those you inspire.”
-Greg Henry
- ” The most important part in saving lives in such a resuscitation are the logistics and how the team makes decisions.”
-Andy Neil
That’s it for now…
Hopefully this roundup of the world of electronic emergency medicine and critical care education for everyone helps you to deal with anyone, anything, anywhere at anytime for at least another week! If you’d like to suggest something for inclusion in the next edition of The LITFL Review, email our roving reporter: kane AT lifeinthefastlane.com
About Kane Guthrie
Happy birthday to the best and brightest collection and collector in the Emergency Medicine Interwebs Realm. Amazing and inimitable job, Kane.
Michelle
Your words are always way too kind. Thanks for the support.
Kane