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 …
Introducing the CanadiEM Junior Learner Primer App
We’ve developed the CanadiEM Junior Learner Primer App to help support junior medical learners during their emergency medicine rotations. In the fast-paced environment of emergency medicine, learners can often find themselves overwhelmed when faced with the acuity as well as the wide variety of cases. Communication and time management skills requirements can also be very different when compared to other specialities. To help make emergency rotations easier and more meaningful, we have created …
HiQuiPs: Consent in Quality Improvement
You’re ready to start a quality improvement (QI) project aimed at improving the effectiveness of the communication surrounding patient prognosis by providers. Your Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles involve retrospective chart reviews, surveys with patients to understand their experiences, and 1:1 key informant interviews with inter-disciplinary staff members in your department. You’ve learned about navigating ethics in quality improvement , and have reached out to your institution’s Research Ethics Board or QI leadership to determine the process …
HiQuiPS: Virtual Care and Inequity Part 2 – Bridging the Digital Divide
You are a Nurse Practitioner who has educated yourself about Canada’s digital divide through personal research and interactions with your own patients. Now that you have a grasp on the source of the problem, you begin to search for solutions. You scour the internet for various services that will provide your patients with access to devices, internet services, and provide technology teachings. Welcome to Part 2 of our Virtual Care and Equity series …