EBM Gone Wild

EBM Gone Wild is a blog discussing articles specific to wilderness topics. It will attempt to explain the evidence (or lack thereof) for the treatments typical of wilderness medicine, usually interjected with some humor.

Chief editor Justin Hensley, an assistant professor of emergency medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine with an interest in wilderness medicine (#wildmed) and #FOAMed.

Blog/Podcast	Keywords Hidden
Acute mountain sickness is more than one syndrome	AMS, altitude, sleep, insomnia, periodic breathing, sleep disturbance, AMS, altitude illness, elevation, acute mountain sickness
Death by caterpillar. Consider zebras, but don't memorize them	lepidoptera, caterpillar, lepidoptera, worm, armyworm, silkworm, hornworm, boltworm, lonomia
Everything you know about snakebites is wrong.	snakebite, snake bite, snake-bite, envenomation, venom
Are you using the heel hook for climbing? Should you?	heel hook, climbing, leg injury, Climbing, rock climbing, bouldering, fall, injury
No really, snakes can still hurt you after they're dead	Copperhead, Agkistrodon contortrix, snake, crotalidae, antivenom, venom, treatment
So maybe you can use that for a wilderness airway	cricothyrotomy, airway, cricothryotomy, improvised, macgyver, ad lb
SteriPEN, convenient or worthless?	Drinking water, UVC, clean, pure, purify
Dislocated? Put your shoulder into it!	dislocation, reduction, davos, riggs, out of socket, derangement, Davos, Riggs
Komodo dragons: Myth vs reality	Komodo, dragon, komodo dragon, dinosaur, lizard, venom, bacteria, saliva
Don't use compression only CPR for drowning victims	Compression-only CPR, CCPR, drowning, mouth to mouth, compression only, resuscitation, rescue breaths, CPR, drowning, immersion injury
Is there anything a SAM splint can't do?	cervical spine, collar, immobilisation, SAM splint, cervical collar, neck brace, C collar, SAM splint, mouldable splint
About that New Year's resolution
Animal attacks really aren't that bad afterall
You can overdo heat stroke treatment	hyperthermia, heat stroke
Venom extraction kits. Seriously, just don't.
A novel prevention for acute mountain sickness	AMS, altitude
Necessity is the mother of tourniquet invention
Want to really repel mosquitoes?	Mozzies
Use hematoma blocks for wilderness anesthesia	haematoma block, local anaesthesia
Femoral traction splints, helpful or not?
If you don't use it, you lose it
How you wash your utensils matters
Maybe clothing technology hasn't gotten better
Just how clean is that water container?	Drinking water
Think it's just the flu? Think again	Dengue fever, influenza, saddleback fever,
Sailing expeditions gone wrong
Lecture: Marine Injuries Texmed 2014	Marine, injury
Lecture: DKA TCEP	DKA, diabetic ketoacidosis
Lecture: Centipedes, caterpillars and creepy crawlies
Lecture: Fish Poisoning	Fish Poisoning
Lecture: Spider Bites that aren’t MRSA	Spider Bites
Don't believe what you read on the internet	snakebite, Snake-bite, snake bite
Fever in the returning traveler	Travel Medicine
Drowning and Adult Respiratory Distress Syndrome	Adult Respiratory Distress Syndrome, ARDS
Does that avalanche airbag really help?	avalanche, snow
Does that avalanche airbag really help?	avalanche, snow
Better food safety through technology
What leads to rock climbing rescues?	Rock climbing, Climb
Does paper tape prevent blisters?
Deep breathing to prevent acute mountain sickness	acute mountain sickness, AMS, altitude
Wear the helmet anyway	snow
Do they really have to be warm and dead?
Predicting survival after avalanches	avalanche, snow
What do you do if a puma attacks?	Big Cat, Feline, animal attack,
Copperheads don't cause coagulopathy	Copperhead, snakebite, Snake-bite, snake bite
Big cats and you	Big Cat, Feline
International traveling with medications?	SERVQUAL, RATER scale, Travel medicine
Stroke after crotalidae antivenom	snakebite, rattlesnake, crotalidae
Has the bell tolled for redback antivenom?	RBS, spider bite, spiderbite
Is there anything magnesium can't do?	Magnesium, Mg2+
Ranger IVs decrease flow	intravenous infusion, field, Ranger, ruggedized
More dangers of centipedes?
Simulation on a budget	Simulation Medicine
Anticoagulants: Bad in the wilderness
Bringing wilderness to the city
The science of SAR	Search and Rescue
So do we call them extreme infections?	Extreme sports,
Beware the catfish
Motion sickness: A natural remedy	Ginger
Irrigating wounds in the wilderness
Don't drink the water	Drinking water, clean, pure, purify
There's an app for that	Injury
So you've pulled off a deer tick
How persistent is permethrin?	mosquito, malaria
Does fear make you a better climber?
Noodling and you
Space blankets are worthless
Preventing paresthesias when hiking
Ants as sutures?
Wilderness wound pitfalls
A 7th injury mechanism for lightning?	lightning
How to prevent diarrhea when hiking	hiking, water
How to survive a shark attack
Surgical airways in the field
So what is a wilderness fellowship?	ACGME
Stop skin testing antidotes
Wound closure on a budget
Is candiru really the scourge of the Amazon?	candiru, Amazonian catfish
Base jumping and wingsuits	Base Jump, wingsuit
Hypothermia: A history	Hypothermia
Do ski helmets cause risk compensation?	snow, Ski, helmet, trauma
Piranha attacks	Piranha, marine injury
How long can recompression be delayed?	Decompression sickness
Denim as snake bite protection?	denim, snakebite, protection
Treating serious frostbite	snow, windchill
Predicting altitude sickness?
More worries from gila monsters
What to do for bug bites?
Do air pockets help avalanche survival?	avalanche, snow
Mediterranean recluse bite necroses cartilage	spider bite, Loxoscelism, Brown recluse
Big powder, bigger injuries	ski injury, trauma
Canteloupe listeriosis	Listeria monocytogenes
Bats, not just for rabies anymore
Asian giant hornet
The shocking pink dragon millipede
Death by elephant	animal attack,
Brown recluse bites	Loxoscelism, Brown recluse, spider bite
Ice vs chemical cold packs
Afterdrop	avalanche, snow
Toxicodendron dermatitis	Toxicodendron, poison ivy, dermatitis, urushiol
Biphasic anaphylaxis after using autoinjector. Now what?
Drinking water on the cheap	Drinking water, clean, pure, purify
Palm cooling, effective or not?
Don't be like Goldilocks	Animal attack, bear
What is the best botanical mosquito repellent?	Mosquito
Brain eating amoeba?	Naegleria fowleri
What? I can't hear you!	Ciguatera, ciguatoxins
Why do my hands feel so cold?	Gambierdiscus toxicus
Whitewater safety
The brain wants oxygen
Don't pet the sweaty stuff
See you later alligator
Climbing? Having trouble sleeping?	AMS, Acute mountain sickness, acetazolamide, altitude
Honey, I shrunk the wound	Honey, wound management, burns
Stupidity is a wilderness disease	seatbelt, trauma, travel
Neostigmine for snake bites?	Neostigmie, snakebite, envenoming
Stop peeing on it!	jellyfish sting, vinegar
Along came a spider	Red-back spider, red back spider, Black widow, RBS, envenoming, Black Widow, envenoming, magnesium

Wilderness Medicine

Justin Hensley, MD

Emergency physician with interests in wilderness and prehospital medicine. Medical Director of the Texas State Aquarium, Padre Island National Seashore, Robstown EMS, and Code 3 ER | EBM gone Wild | @EBMGoneWild |