Contributor:  Dave Rosenberg, MD Educational Pearls: In 1951, Operation Tat-Type began tattooing adults with their blood type in an effort to prepare for rapid transfusions in the time of the Cold War and the Korean War School children in northern Indiana and areas in Utah were tattooed with their blood type beginning in 1952 under the same operation Based on tattoos given to SS officers during WWII This wasn't to identify who needed what blood but rather to identify who could give what blood in the event of a massive attack References Wolf EK, Laumann AE. The use of blood-type tattoos during the Cold War. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2008;58(3):472-476. doi:10.1016/j.jaad.2007.11.019 Summarized by John Spartz, MS3 | Edited by Erik Verzemnieks, MD   The Emergency Medical Minute is excited to announce that we are now offering AMA PRA Category 1 credits™ via online course modules. To access these and for more information, visit our website at www.emergencymedicalminute.com/cme-courses/ and create an account.  Donate to EMM today! 

Emergency Medical Minute

Podcast 670: Operation Tat-Type

Contributor:  Gretchen Hinson, MD Educational Pearls: Three episodes of ventricular tachycardia within 24 hours or two episodes back-to-back Treat with IV amiodarone and IV beta-blockers initially as well as IV lidocaine Correct underlying causes:  IV magnesium for QT prolongation Replete potassium in hypokalemia Urgent revascularization in ischemia For refractory vtach, urgent radiofrequency ablation or stellate ganglion block can be done Last resort is placing on the patient on ECMO References Muser D, Santangeli P, Liang JJ. Management of ventricular tachycardia storm in patients with structural heart disease. World J Cardiol. 2017;9(6):521-530. doi:10.4330/wjc.v9.i6.521 Eifling M, Razavi M, Massumi A. The evaluation and management of electrical storm. Tex Heart Inst J. 2011;38(2):111-121. Summarized by John Spartz, MS3 | Edited by Erik Verzemnieks, MD   The Emergency Medical Minute is excited to announce that we are now offering AMA PRA Category 1 credits™ via online course modules. To access these and for more information, visit our website at www.emergencymedicalminute.com/cme-courses/ and create an account.  Donate to EMM today!

Podcast 669: VTach Storm

Contributor: Donald Stader, MD Educational Pearls: Opioids target kappa and NMDA receptors that can lead to central nervous system sensitization and therefore increased pain For patients with opioid-induced hyperalgesia (OIH), oral ketamine (25-50 mg) can be used to treat their pain as it targets the NMDA receptor Other treatments is IV magnesium, NSAIDs, tylenol, and clonidine Buprenorphine and methadone are options for chronic pain management in the setting of OIH References Lee M, Silverman SM, Hansen H, Patel VB, Manchikanti L. A comprehensive review of opioid-induced hyperalgesia. Pain Physician. 2011;14(2):145-161. Summarized by John Spartz, MS3 | Edited by Erik Verzemnieks, MD   The Emergency Medical Minute is excited to announce that we are now offering AMA PRA Category 1 credits™ via online course modules. To access these and for more information, visit our website at www.emergencymedicalminute.com/cme-courses/ and create an account.  Donate to EMM today! 

Podcast 668: Opioid-Induced Hyperalgesia

Contributor:  Aaron Lessen, MD Educational Pearls: Recent study looked at whether lactated ringers might be a better choice for fluid resuscitation in patients with DKA compared to normal saline Normal saline can cause a hyperchloremic metabolic acidosis Time to resolution of acidosis was 4 hours less with lactated ringers compared to normal saline Time on an insulin drip decreased by about 4 hours with lactated ringers compared to normal saline LR might be a better choice for fluid resuscitation in patients with DKA References Self WH, Evans CS, Jenkins CA, et al. Clinical Effects of Balanced Crystalloids vs Saline in Adults With Diabetic Ketoacidosis: A Subgroup Analysis of Cluster Randomized Clinical Trials. JAMA Netw Open. 2020;3(11):e2024596. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.24596 Summarized by John Spartz, MS3 | Edited by Erik Verzemnieks, MD 

Podcast 667: Lactated Ringers for DKA

Contributor:  Jared Scott, MD Educational Pearls: About ½ of the patients in the ED present with some form of pain One study looked at patients presenting in pain and followed up two days after discharge to determine if their pain was addressed, asking if the patient received anything for pain and if the patient refused pain medication Non-analgesic pain management: About 30% discordance between patient reports and documentation Conventional analgesic pain management: About 15% discordance between patient reports and documentation References Taylor DM, Valentine S, Majer J, Grant N. Discordance between patient-reported and actual emergency department pain management. Emerg Med Australas. 2020 Nov 22. doi: 10.1111/1742-6723.13690. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 33225600. Summarized by John Spartz, MS3 | Edited by Erik Verzemnieks, MD   The Emergency Medical Minute is excited to announce that we are now offering AMA PRA Category 1 credits™ via online course modules. To access these and for more information, visit our website at www.emergencymedicalminute.com/cme-courses/ and create an account.  Donate to EMM today!

Podcast 666: Pain Management & Patient Perspective

Contributor:  Peter Bakes, MD Educational Pearls: Incidence 2.5-10 per million people occurring primarily in those with environmental allergens Typically occurs with mRNA vaccines in lipid nanoparticles (Moderna/Pfizer) rather than the adenovirus vaccine (J&J) Recommendation is to forego 2nd dose of the mRNA vaccine and instead get the adenovirus vaccine after weighing the risks and benefits References Kounis NG, Koniari I, de Gregorio C, Velissaris D, Petalas K, Brinia A, Assimakopoulos SF, Gogos C, Kouni SN, Kounis GN, Calogiuri G, Hung MY. Allergic Reactions to Current Available COVID-19 Vaccinations: Pathophysiology, Causality, and Therapeutic Considerations. Vaccines (Basel). 2021 Mar 5;9(3):221. doi: 10.3390/vaccines9030221. PMID: 33807579; PMCID: PMC7999280. Blumenthal KG, Robinson LB, Camargo CA, et al. Acute Allergic Reactions to mRNA COVID-19 Vaccines. JAMA. Published online March 08, 2021. doi:10.1001/jama.2021.3976 Summarized by John Spartz, MS3 | Edited by Erik Verzemnieks, MD   The Emergency Medical Minute is excited to announce that we are now offering AMA PRA Category 1 credits™ via online course modules. To access these and for more information, visit our website at www.emergencymedicalminute.com/cme-courses/ and create an account.  Donate to EMM today! 

Podcast 665: Allergic Reactions after COVID Vaccinations

Contributor:  Jared Scott, MD Educational Pearls: 1-3 cases of rabies per year in US with 55,000 people per year receiving rabies prophylaxis 90% of rabies cases come from wildlife, most commonly by racoons, bats, foxes, and skunks Because of rabies prophylaxis, domesticated pets almost never have rabies in the United States Rabies is typical transmitted via a bite, but direct contact with saliva or brain tissue on an open wound can transmit the virus Some people exposed to rabies from bats will never report a bite References Kessels J, Tarantola A, Salahuddin N, Blumberg L, Knopf L. Rabies post-exposure prophylaxis: A systematic review on abridged vaccination schedules and the effect of changing administration routes during a single course. Vaccine. 2019 Oct 3;37 Suppl 1:A107-A117. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2019.01.041. Epub 2019 Feb 5. PMID: 30737043. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Rabies Postexposure Prophylaxis (PEP). Published June 11, 2019. https://www.cdc.gov/rabies/medical_care/index.html   Summarized by John Spartz, MS3 | Edited by Erik Verzemnieks, MD     The Emergency Medical Minute is excited to announce that we are now offering AMA PRA Category 1 credits™ via online course modules. To access these and for more information, visit our website at www.emergencymedicalminute.com/cme-courses/ and create an account.  Donate to EMM today! 

Podcast 664: Rabies Prophylaxis

Contributor:  Alicia Oberle, MD Educational Pearls: Down Syndrome with Trisomy 21 have three copies of chromosome 21 Current birth rates are around 1 in 700 births  Average life span 25 years in 1980, today the average life span is 60 years of age Patients with Down syndrome require additional therapies in the first 3 years due to developmental delays They also have increased risk for childhood leukemias, seizures, hypothyroidism, celiac disease, and early-onset Alzheimers Half have a cardiac defect requiring surgery at birth References Tsou AY, Bulova P, Capone G, et al. Medical Care of Adults With Down Syndrome: A Clinical Guideline. JAMA. 2020;324(15):1543–1556. doi:10.1001/jama.2020.17024 Summarized by John Spartz, MS3 | Edited by Erik Verzemnieks, MD   The Emergency Medical Minute is excited to announce that we are now offering AMA PRA Category 1 credits™ via online course modules. To access these and for more information, visit our website at www.emergencymedicalminute.com/cme-courses/ and create an account.  Donate to EMM today! 

Podcast 663:  Down Syndrome

This week’s episode features a fascinating conversation with Dr. Nadia Tremonti, medical director for the pediatric palliative care program at Children’s Hospital of Michigan in Detroit. Dr. Tremonti was the featured physician in an independent short film Palliative and subsequent New York Times shorter excerpt Dying in your Mother’s Arms that explore her work with terminally ill pediatric patients. From conversations of religion’s role in processing disease to the physician’s role in alleviating suffering for patients and their families, Nick and Nadia explore the existential ground in this thought-provoking segment.    Time Stamps 00:47 Introductions 3:50 How patients led her to pursue palliative care 14:32 Dr. Tremonti’s approach to palliative care 21:42 Understanding patients’ and family’s language to guide counseling 31:38 Most frequent anxieties and fears of families of pediatric palliative care patients 37:21 How emergent interventions can shift burden of decision to continue life-sustaining measures to families 47:45 Navigating existential questions of life or death with patients and their families 55:38 Saddest part of palliative care   The Emergency Medical Minute is excited to announce that we are now offering AMA PRA Category 1 credits™ via online course modules. To access these and for more information, visit our website at www.emergencymedicalminute.com/cme-courses/ and create an account.  Donate to EMM today!

UnfilterED #13: Dr. Nadia Tremonti

Contributor:  Aaron Lessen, MD Educational Pearls: Droperidol for sedation in agitated patients in the emergency department was studied compared to ziprasidone (Geodon) and lorazepam (Ativan) Double-blinded RCT showed droperidol was 65% effective to get patients to a good level of sedation in 15 minutes compared to ativan and geodon which were 25-35% effective Droperidol had less respiratory depression and prolongation of the QT compared to Ativan and Geodon References Martel ML, Driver BE, Miner JR, Biros MH, Cole JB. Randomized Double-blind Trial of Intramuscular Droperidol, Ziprasidone, and Lorazepam for Acute Undifferentiated Agitation in the Emergency Department. Acad Emerg Med. 2021 Apr;28(4):421-434. doi: 10.1111/acem.14124. Epub 2020 Oct 5. PMID: 32888340. Summarized by John Spartz, MS3 | Edited by Erik Verzemnieks, MD

Podcast 662: Droperidol for Sedation

Contributor:  Ricky Dhaliwal, MD Educational Pearls: Primarily affects children 

Podcast 661: Scalded Skin Syndrome

Contributor:  Ricky Dhaliwal, MD Educational Pearls: Rhabdomyolysis occurs when high levels of myoglobin are released from dying muscle tissue into the blood Severe levels of myoglobin cause renal injury Causes include elevated temperature, excessive exercise, toxins, infection, muscle ischemia, crush injury, and prolonged immobilization Can also be caused by medications, like antipsychotics, statins, SSRIs, colchicine, lithium Workup typically includes  creatinine kinase, potassium, creatinine levels and serial EKGs Firstline treatment is with  IV fluids with a goal urine output of 300 ml/hr Sodium bicarbonate and mannitol have had some use in treatment but weak evidence References Long B, Koyfman A, Gottlieb M. An evidence-based narrative review of the emergency department evaluation and management of rhabdomyolysis. Am J Emerg Med. 2019 Mar;37(3):518-523. doi: 10.1016/j.ajem.2018.12.061. Epub 2019 Jan 2. PMID: 30630682. Summarized by John Spartz, MS3 | Edited by Erik Verzemnieks, MD   The Emergency Medical Minute is excited to announce that we are now offering AMA PRA Category 1 credits™ via online course modules. To access these and for more information, visit our website at www.emergencymedicalminute.com/cme-courses/ and create an account.

Podcast 659: Rhabdomyolysis

Contributor:  Aaron Lessen, MD Educational Pearls: Study in NEJM looked at occult hypoxemia, when oxygen saturation reads at >92% when the actual saturation is 

Podcast 659: Racial Bias in Pulse Oximetry

Contributor:  Peter Bakes, MD Educational Pearls: Febrile Seizure clinical criteria 6 months - 5 years of age Rapid rise in temp No preexisting seizure disorder No other explanation for the seizure Nonfocal seizure lasting less than 15 minutes If the seizure does not meet the above criteria, a full workup needs to be completed Regardless of cause, treat the seizure with IV/IO benzodiazepines or IN versed if unable to obtain access Risk of developing epilepsy after a simple febrile seizure roughly doubles References Leung AK, Hon KL, Leung TN. Febrile seizures: an overview. Drugs Context. 2018;7:212536. Published 2018 Jul 16. doi:10.7573/dic.212536 Summarized by John Spartz, MS3 | Edited by Erik Verzemnieks, MD   The Emergency Medical Minute is excited to announce that we are now offering AMA PRA Category 1 credits™ via online course modules. To access these and for more information, visit our website at www.emergencymedicalminute.com/cme-courses/ and create an account.  Donate to EMM today!

Podcast 658: Febrile Seizures

Contributor:  Aaron Lessen, MD Educational Pearls: Acid and alkali ingestions have differing prognosis and immediate concerns Immediate issues can include superficial irritation, severe burns, esophageal perforation, and even airway compromise from edem Long term morbidity can include strictures Supportive care is typically all that can be provided in the emergency department Diagnostics may include imaging and endoscopy For more severe ingestions without immediate issues,, patients may be monitored for up to 24 hours References Hoffman RS, Burns MM, Gosselin S. Ingestion of Caustic Substances. N Engl J Med. 2020 Apr 30;382(18):1739-1748. doi: 10.1056/NEJMra1810769. PMID: 32348645. Summarized by Erik Verzemnieks, MD   The Emergency Medical Minute is excited to announce that we are now offering AMA PRA Category 1 credits™ via online course modules. To access these and for more information, visit our website at www.emergencymedicalminute.com/cme-courses/ and create an account.  Donate to EMM today! 

Podcast 657: Caustic Ingestion

Our near daily podcasts move quickly to reflect current events, are inspired by real patient care, and speak to the true nature of what it’s like to work in the Emergency Room or Pre-Hospital Setting. Each medical minute is recorded in a real emergency department, by the emergency physician or clinical pharmacist on duty – the ER is our studio and everything is live.