Welcome to the polished 81st edition!
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 casts 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 to find the most fantastic EM/CC FOAM (Free Open Access Meducation) around.
The Most Fair Dinkum Ripper Beaut of the Week
Top spot is taken out this week by the Intensive Care Network, coming from their recent Bedside Critical Care conference, Oli and Mathew have been busy uploading all of the talks into podcast for our listening pleasure and its free!! Pure FOAM at its best. Have a listen to this weeks free podcast!
- Lane on Tropical Microbiology - From melioidosis to leptospirosis. The ins and outs on tropical medicine!
- Harris on Interview Preparation are you prepared for your next interview? Roger Harris gives you the pearls and pitfalls to have you getting that next job.
- Nickson on ABG’s - Great short, sharp to the point talk on ABG’s by some guy called Nickson - never heard of him, have you?
- Nhi on Obstetric Emergencies in ICU - Excellent podcast covering what you need to know for managing the obstetric patient in the ICU.
The LITFL Review Top Picks
- a difficult airway… Chris shares with us a difficult airway case, that resulted in a surgical airway. Although through training 99% of the time securing the airway is not a problem, its that 1% that we need to be always prepared for… Read this post and think to yourself are you really prepared?
- big black spider… are you ready to manage that big black spider bite? If not Chris has the ultimate guide!
- Balanced Sedation in the ED - Simon share’s with us some absolute pearls and challenges us to start looking at procedural sedation as a balanced approach.
- The Emergency Department Double Setup — is an airway management strategy conventionally carried out in the operating room, in a stable or relatively stable patient who requires a definitive airway but is anticipated to be very difficult to intubate orally. Who’s doing this in their EDs? I like the concept, Reuben.
- Horses for courses, or Courses for horses? Are we on the right track for providing education or should we be heading down a different path?
- What is the most common acid base disorder in the ICU… You maybe surprised to find out that is IT’S ALKALOSIS, NOT ACIDOSIS!
- WHERE TO SCAN FOR PNEUMOS - A recent article in Journal of American Emergency Medicine shows we probably need to scan lower to catch the most pneumos.
- What ER Docs Can Learn from Radiologists’ Guidelines –I’m glad this was by Robert McNamara, not Billy Mallon!
- Should we cardiovert acute Atrial Fibrillation in the ED? - Are we doing the right thing by these patients? Rob provides some though provoking points on should we actually be cardioverting these patients? Worth a listen!
- Psychiatric Medical Screening - This episode Steve, discusses how to perform medical screening for patients with psychiatric complaints.
- Trick of the Trade: Avoiding a straight-needle needlestick injury - Its simple use a needle hub as a thimble-like protector!
- Top 10 medical photography tips for a camera phone - great post on how to do medical photography with the aid of a smartphone!
- The Emergency Medicine Literature is Tragic - and clearly very biased! Is this going to be a problem for blogs as well?
- ALTEs That Need Admission Need Admission - Based on this data, they came up with a simple decision rule to identify ALTEs for admission:
- They obviously need to be admitted.
- Concerning medical history/prematurity/congenital comorbidities.
- >1 ALTE in 24 hours.
- “60 Minutes” on medical marijuana - conflicting laws and the marketing of marijuana by companies – what effect could this be having on the health case system. Interesting…worth watching!
- White matter destruction: was 2C-E (“Europa”) the culprit? - 2C-E another design drug that has potentially dramatic consequences! Be aware.
- F.D.A. investigating 5 deaths possibly associated with caffeinated “energy” drinks - Fact or Fiction…Be interested to see more than just a media report to support this!
- The Future of Learning - This documentary, funded by Ericsson, shows how ICT (information and communications technology) is breaking down the walls of the classroom and is becoming central to lifelong learning.
- #FOAMEd Online Airway training Program – more Anatomy, blade technique and topicalisation by Dr Seth Trueger - Wow the things Minh will do for the FOAMed community….
- An interview with an Irish Flying Doctor and RollCageMedic - The lads discuss basically anything and everything from remote care, bedside ultrasound, and touch on a bit of SMACC 2013!
- An interesting case of dyspnoea – Short, sharp review on viral myocarditis.
- Not just in ARDS - A ‘lung protective’ ventilation strategy that includes low tidal volumes has been shown to improve outcomes in patients with ARDS. Many also advocate it as sensible practice for any ventilated patient as a means of minimising the chances of ventilator-induced lung injury and hopefully improving outcome. A recent meta-analysis provides further evidence to support that recommendation
- Don’t bronchodilators work in infants? - In summary: beta-agonist bronchodilators have not been shown to improve clinical outcomes in wheezing infants.
- Needle decompression: it’s still not going to work - A recent CT scan-based study of adult trauma patients makes the case that needle decompression with a standard iv cannula would be expected to fail in 42.5% of cases at the second intercostal space (ICS) compared with 16.7% at the fifth ICS at the anterior axillary line (AAL).
- Thoracoabdominal trauma outcomes - This is a really interesting paper providing important data on the outcomes and management of a patient group that frequently produces management dilemmas in trauma centres.
- Paediatric Primary Survey (the rough guide) - a rough guide to performing a paediatric primary survey taken from notes Ian made during an advanced paediatric life support course.
- How Long Should We Watch Intracerebral Hemorrhage? - Bottom line: Most centers are probably overdoing the observation and repeat scan thing. More than two thirds of bleeds are stable by the first scan (first and second scans identical), and nearly all stop progressing within 24 hours.
- Man in his 70′s with presyncope. Dr Cmith includes also some interesting data on troponins with this case.
- Introduction to Video Laryngoscopy in the paediatric patient!
- Pediatric Lymphadenopathy - More than just picking a needle out of a hay stack.
- Mike “The Man” Stone interviews CCEMUS guru Haney Mallemat and ask him the hard hitting questions from measuring fluid resuscitation to the future of ultrasound.
- iBook is here! -Introduction to Bedside Ultrasound Part 1 - The lads have managed to publish their first iBook – well done, looks awesome.
- Fighting Oligoanalgesia And Meanness - Are you being a tight arse when it comes to properly treating pain in your patients?
- Lyme disease in Australia it is here…but very rare!
The LITFL Review Shout Out of the Week
This weeks shout-out goes to a new blog site called PEMLit. The aim of PEMLit is that each week, we rummage through the published literature to bring you an appraisal of the latest journal articles in PEM. Check out their following reviews:
- The Effect of Abdominal Pain Duration on the Accuracy of Diagnostic Imaging for Paediatric Appendicitis
- Can We Reduce Ketamine-Associated Vomiting in Young Children?
Twee Dee and Twitical Care
News from the Fastlane
- Chris has put together another great collection of articles in this week’s R&R In The FASTLANE 028
- SMACC SimWars And SonoGames - the rules have been laid down, are your teams ready?
The Final Words
- “Airways are like willies – the more you fiddle, the harder they get.”
- Tim Leeuwenburg
- “Action is the antidote to despair.”
- Joan Baez
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 kane AT lifeinthefastlane.com
LITFL Review EM/CC Educational Social Media Round Up
Emergency Medicine and Critical Care Blogroll
Emergency Medicine and Critical Care Podcasts
123Sonography.com — Academic Life in Emergency Medicine — Adventure Medicine— A Life at Risk — All LA Conference — Al Sacchetti’s Youtube — Bedside Ultrasound — Better in Emergency Medicine — Broome Docs — CCM-L.org — CLIC-EM — Critical Care Perspectives in EM — Dave on Airways —DrGDH — Dr Smith’s ECG Blog — ECG Academy — ECG Guru — ECG of the Week—ED Exam — EDTCC — EKG Videos — EM Basic — EM Core Content — EMCrit — Emergency Medical Abstracts —EMERJENCYWEBB –EmergencyLondon — Emergency Medicine Cases — Emergency Medicine Education — Emergency Medicine News — Emergency Medicine Ireland — Emergency Medicine Tutorials—Emergency Medicine Updates —Emergucate —EM Literature of Note — empem.org — EMpills — Emergency Physicians Monthly — EM Lyceum — EMProcedures — EMRAP — EMRAP: Educators’ Edition — EMRAP.TV — EM REMS — ER CAST — Free Emergency Medicine Talks — GMEP — Gmergency! — Greater Sydney Area HEMS — HQmeded.com — ICU Rounds — Impactednurse — Intensive Care Network —iTeachEM - keepcaring — Keeping Up With Emergency Medicine — KeeWeeDoc — KI Docs — LipheLongLurnERdok — MDaware — MD+ CALC — MedEDMasters — Medical Education Videos — Medicina d’urgenza — Medicine for the Outdoors — Micrognome — Movin’ Meat — Neurointensive Care — Pediatric EM Morsels — PEM ED — PEMLit — PHARM — Practical Evidence — Priceless Electrical Activity — Procedurettes — PulmCCM.org — Radiology Signs — Radiopaedia — Resus.com.au — Resus.ME — RESUS Room — Richard Winters’ Physician Leadership —ruralflyingdoc — SCANCRIT — SCCM Blogs — SCCM Podcast — SEMEP — SinaiEM — SinaiEM Ultrasound — SMART EM — SonoSpot — StEmylns — Takeokun — thebluntdissection—The Central Line — The Ember Project —The Emergency Medicine Resident Blog — The NNT — The Poison Review — The Sharp End — The Short Coat —The Skeptics Guide to Emergency Medicine — The Sono Cave - The Trauma Professional’s Blog — underneathEM.com — ToxTalk — TJdogma — Twin Cities Toxicology — Ultrarounds — UMEM Educational Pearls — Ultrasound Village
About Kane Guthrie
Love your work Kane, you do a great job keeping us all up to date with the best of FOAMed. Lets keep the standards high, and ensure we all stay safe during the production of FOAMed material. Lets be careful not glorify the cowboys who take unnecessary risks in the name of education.
Thanks Shelley
The feedback is appreciated, will be-careful what i condone in future reviews.
Viva le foam
Kane
Thanks for the top spot nod Kane. We’d like to thank our wives, our children, those who taught us, …….
Seriously, nice to be up there amongst the other great FOAMed denizens. Keep watching our site for more BCC3 talks.
Looking forward to meeting you all at SMACC 2013 next March
Have fun
Matt & Oli
Loving the podcast from BCC and know the FOAM community is too. Awesome resource/blog ICN, look forward to listening to more episodes.
Well deserved ripper of week.
Kane
This is good. Reminds me of the blog carnivals of olde.
Cheers Brian
Glad your liking it.
Kane
Kane,
Always amazing summary. Making us all smarter with your summaries.