For Journal Club this past week we covered what is undoubtably one of the more controversial diagnostic tests used in the evaluation of patients presenting to physicians with chest pain.  The most recent NICE guidelines recommend Coronary CT as the first line test for patients with stable angina symptoms but don't Coronary CT's lead to increased downstream testing? more radiation exposure? To investigate this topic we took a look at 3 articles focused on the utility of Coronary CT scans. Take a listen to the podcast and read the recap to learn for yourself.

Last week our Journal Club focused on the treatment of hemodynamically significant pulmonary emboli.  These are pulmonary emboli causing either frank hypotension (sometimes called massive or high risk PEs) or causing significant right heart strain as evidenced by CT findings, cardiac biomarker elevation, or bedside Echo findings.  Drs. Grace Lagasse, Kari Gorder, and Claire O'Brien led us in a discussion of the 3 papers linked in the article.  Read the papers yourself, listen to the podcast, read the summaries and get caught up on all things PE.

Working in the Emergency Department, we often encounter patients with either pre-existing renal disease or an acute compromise of their renal function who also have a disease process necessitating a contrasted radiology study.  So what do we do with that patient with a creatinine of 1.8 who has a possible vascular dissection/traumatic injury/infection? What is the risk of contrast to that patient?  Should you compromise your diagnostic evaluation to avoid a harm to the patient's renal function?  Dr. Nick Ludmer, Dr Michael Miller, and Dr. Amanda Polsinelli recap 3 articles recently published looking into contrast induced nephropathy.  Take a listen to the podcast and read the blog post to get yourself acquainted with the current state of the literature.

This week we'll be recapping the discussion of our most recent journal club where Dr. Christian Renne, Dr. Anita Goel, and Dr. Maika Dang led us in a discussion centering on the use of vasopressin both in sepsis and in vasoplegic shock states.  Take a listen to the podcast below and read the brief summaries of their articles to boost your understanding of Vasopressin.  Should you reach for it first or is it a second class pressor?

Asthma and COPD are 2 of the more common ailments responsible for patients presenting to an Emergency Department with complaints of shortness of breath.  Last week, we met as a residency and, led by Dr. Lauren Titone, Dr. Walker Plash, and Dr. Rob Thompson, discussed some newer literature for the treatment of these often intertwined conditions.  Take a listen to the podcast within to hear our thoughts and read the summary after the jump for the breakdown.

Last week we had our first Journal Club of the year and had an excellent discussion of the evidence surrounding the use of amiodarone, lidocaine, and procainamide for ventricular dysrhythmias.  Take a listen to the podcast below and read up on the details of the papers below that!

Morbidity and Mortality Conference with Dr. Curry

Acute Coronary Syndrome in Pregnancy

Epidemiology

• Incidence reported at about 6/100,000 deliveries
• Maternal mortality is between 5-9%
• 75% are STEMI
• 2/3rds are anterior wall MI (LAD or LM as the culprit vessel)

Risk Factors

Many of these are typical ACS risk factors but are less prevalent in the pregnant population

• Older age (>35 years old for pregnancy is considered older age....yikes)
• Hypertension
• Diabetes
• Obesity
• Smoking
• Dyslipidemia

Last week our residents and faculty met for journal club in search of the holy grail.. err.. I mean, to talk about ways to assess volume responsiveness.  A couple of weeks back the PGY-1 and 2  residents met and discussed a number of questions they had about the care and management of patients with sepsis.  The discussion hit on a number of key topics: empiric antibiotic selection, timing of antibiotics, choice of vasopressors, etc.  Ultimately the group decided they wanted to take a closer look at non-invasive ways to assess volume responsiveness and guide resuscitation in septic patients.

It's a typical busy post-Thanksgiving shift in the ED.  It seems like patients with acute decompensated heart failure, sepsis, NSTEMI's and a whole host of other ailments are tucked in every corner and crevice of the ED.  Just as you finish putting in orders on the last patient you saw, your next patient rolls by on an EMS stretcher.  You see from your computer that the patient is on a backboard and in a c-collar after what clearly was some form of traumatic event.  He's screaming in pain and holding his left leg flexed at the hip and internally rotated.  "Jeez, I bet that hip is dislocated," you say to yourself.

You know you're going to need to reduce this dislocation, to not do so would risk avascular necrosis.  Tammy, one of the nurses you are working with that day is already 2 steps ahead of you.  "Doc, we're getting everything set up for the sedation, you're going to need for that hip that's out. What drugs do you want us to pull up?"