The ABCDE approach applies to the initial assessment of critically ill patients. For each step, appropriate treatment should be started regardless if there is a definitive diagnosis. Airway1–3 Fatal in minutes. Think of this separately from breathing! Consider what would you do if the airway became threatened, e.g. Have you assessed for predictors of difficult airway management? Assessment Management ● Determine if patient can speak.● Inspect for secretions or foreign bodies.● Check for …
How to Study Effectively: Powering Up Your Study Habits
Kuldeep is a 29 yo medical student who has been studying daily but can’t seem to keep up with the content. His friends seem to be scoring higher than him on tests. How can Kuldeep add some new habits and learn how to study more effectively? When it comes to studying, we are often poor judges of when we are learning well and when we are not. Evidence shows that information sticks better …
Getting to “CT Safe and Fast”
A career in emergency medicine involves management of risk and uncertainty. We balance multiple competing priorities and make important trade-offs on a daily basis. None more so than the delicate balance between speed and safety. You may have heard the CT scanner being spoken about in a tongue in cheek fashion as “the doughnut of death.” While there is an element of dark humour here, there is also an element of truth. So …
FRCPC or CCFP-EM: What is best for you?
FRCPC or CCFP-EM? This is a question that EM physicians spend a lot of time discussing with their mentees. Why are there two EM designations in Canada? What do the letters even mean? What’s the difference? Which route is right for you? These are great questions. Unfortunately, as with many important decisions, you’ll probably get as many answers to them as people you ask. Everyone in the Canadian EM world seems to have …
HiQuiPs: Patient Safety Fundamentals – Introduction & Hospital Acquired Infections
It’s another Friday morning on the ward, and you are looking forward to discharging one of your patients home to spend time in their garden over the weekend. Ms. Jones is an 83-year-old lady admitted a few days ago with what turned out to be a urinary tract infection. Initially weak and slightly confused, after some IV fluids and oral antibiotics, she has been back to her peppy self over the past day. …
Tiny Tips: The COWS Scale
As the opiate crisis continues to escalate, emergency departments are seeing higher numbers of patients with complaints and complications related to opiate use disorder. There is strong evidence for opiate agonist treatment in preventing opiate related deaths. Additionally, Suboxone (buprenorphine-naloxone) is the recommended first line treatment.1 Suboxone Treatment For a full Suboxone start, a patient is required to be in moderate withdrawal, meaning a Clinical Opiate Withdrawal Scale (COWS) score of greater than …