LITFL Review 158

Welcome to the 158th LITFL Review! Your regular and reliable source for the highest highlights, sneakiest sneak peeks and loudest shout-outs from the webbed world of emergency medicine and critical care. Each week the LITFL team casts the spotlight on the blogosphere’s best and brightest, and deliver a bite-sized chunk of Global FOAM.

The Most Fair Dinkum Ripper Beauts of the Week

Rethinking Pulseless Electrical Activity (PEA). Our current algorithms leave much to be desired in terms of PEA management. The ED ECMO crew discuss updated thoughts on PEA and using a different approach to diagnosis and treatment. [AS]

The Best of #FOAMed Emergency Medicine

• Weakness and bradycardia? Don’t forget about hyperkalemia. Amal shares some great pearls on hyperkalemia this week. [AS]
• Provision of supplemental O2 to STEMI patients with normal oxygen saturations appears to be detrimental. Scancrit.com reviews the release of the AVOID abstract at the 2014 AHA Congress meeting. [AS]
• Maternal cardiac arrest in the ED is a high stress scenario. Sarah Payne gives a great overview of the management and a simplified approach in this novel picture book summary. [SL]
• Here’s a great overview of hypertensive emergencies from S.O.A.P. [SO]
• You’ve probably heard that opioid overdose patients require monitoring after administration of naloxone (narcan). Do they really? The EMJClub reviews the evidence in this month’s podcast “Treat and Release vs. Observation After Naloxone for Opioid Overdose” [MG]

The Best of #FOAMcc Critical Care

• Weingart, Minh and Mike Lauria discuss delayed sequence intubation (DSI) and a new paradigm for publication via vetting through FOAM. [AS]
• Is correcting hyperchloraemic acidosis beneficial? Josh Farkas discusses balanced fluids and bicarbonate in this blog post. [SO]
• Here’s a thought-provoking post from the team at INTENSIVE looking at a case of hypoxia post lung transplantation. [SO]
• We’re finding more and more uses for ECMO, but what can go wrong when you’re at the edge of resuscitation? The Maryland CC Project offers a great review in “ECLS gone wrong… i.e. When ECMO attacks!” [MG]

The Best of #FOAMtox Toxicology

• Resus Review discusses the use and abuse of dinitrophenol, how patients present and the focus on supportive care in their management. [AS]
• Can permanent marker leach into an IV bag, causing toxic effects? ALiEM reviews the evidence, and the results might surprise you. [MG]

The Best of #FOAMus Ultrasound

• Phillipe Rola gives a visual challenge to the current literature on IVC collapsibility in his post Short Vs Long Axis: Be the judge. [SO]
• Seth Koenig writes a great piece for CHEST’s blog on the 11th commandment on ICU- Thou Shalt Use Ultrasound. [SO]
• What is the future of ultrasound education? Justin Bowra discusses this in his excellent lecture from SMACC Gold. [SO]

The Best of #FOAMped Pediatrics

• Don’t Forget the Bubbles covers some of the most frequently asked questions in pediatric anaphylaxis treatment in Q&A style. [AS]

The Best of #MedEd FOAM and #FOAMsim

• Pushing the boundaries of FOAM further, the St Emlyn’s team live streamed theirtalks from the Manchester Medical Society EM meeting on the use of FOAM in medical education. Learn from Simon’s talk on social media in education, Rick’s inspirational talk on research in EM and Natalie’s talk on how FOAM has opened numerous doors in her career in EM and could do for you too! [SL]
• Learning how to open doors in you career in EM and balancing that with the pitfalls it can bring about. Learn from 4 of the best educators in this podcast from iTeach EM! [SL]

LITFL Weekly Review Team

Reference Sources and Reading List

• #FOAMed – #FOAMcc – #FOAMres
• #FOAMped – #FOAMtox – #FOAMus
• #FOAMim – #FOANed