On December 5th we posted the following case for discussion and asked our readers to comment on the management of refractory ventricular fibrillation. Here is the summary of comments received, both on the blog, and via twitter. The Case…. A 56 year-old male is cleaning out his garage with his wife when she hears him
by Melody Glenn, MD The voice on the other end of the phone sounds frantic and rushed, “He can’t breathe!” The palpable panic wakes the emergency dispatcher out of his post-lunch daze. He sits up a little straighter and shifts his gaze to the periphery, preparing to listen more closely. “Okay, tell me exactly what
by Brandon Bleess, MD EMT-T and Jeremy Cushman, MD, MS, EMT-P, FACEP, FAEMS Case: A 54-year-old male is working in his yard when he collapses to the ground and his wife calls 911. The call is dispatched as a cardiac arrest and the patient\’s wife is instructed to perform CPR per pre-arrival instructions. Upon EMS
by Maia Dorsett, MD PhD At the end of my third year of residency, I was in the process of solidifying my decision to pursue a fellowship in EMS. I was on rotation in the Medical ICU and we were having an informal conversation about plans following residency. When I stated that I planned to
The Case It’s a brisk fall afternoon when an ALS unit is dispatched to the home of a 62 yo female in respiratory distress. She lives on the third story of an apartment building. The team carries their gear upstairs to find a woman in severe distress. She is obese, tripoding and beginning to get
By Melinda Johnson, EMT-B One could say that MacGyver is the patron saint of EMS. Prehospital professionals pride themselves on innovative solutions to patient care. Most frequently this takes the form of the work that goes into delivering a packaged patient to the right hospital in a timely manner no matter where, what time of
by Sahar Morkos El-Hayek, MD EMS MEd Editor Maia Dorsett, MD PhD (@maiadorsett) This past summer, the results of the REALTY-AHF (Registry Focused on Very Early Presentation and Treatment in Emergency Department of Acute Heart Failure) study, a prospective observational cohort study of the management of patients presenting to the emergency for acute heart failure
by Melody Glenn, MD Last Wednesday, we met around a picnic table at Rotten City Pizza to discuss Sam Quinones’ Dreamland and the ways in which we as emergency providers can work to combat the worsening opioid epidemic. Perhaps no one is more qualified to write such a captivating, multifaceted book on this international crisis
by Clayton Kazan, MD MS FACEP I suppose I am biased. Like many of the readers, I got my start in medicine working as an EMT on the UCLA EMS ambulance in college, and, I entered medical school with the intent to become an Emergency Physician. I have been actively involved in EMS since I
A Case It is a typical day in the emergency department. An 83 yo female is brought in by EMS after family called 911 because the patient was not herself. The patient’s vital signs are reportedly within normal limits, so she is triaged to a regular room in the emergency department where handoff is given
