Can J Emerg Med
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Case Reports
Just the Facts: Extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.
A 58-year-old man is brought by the ambulance to the emergency department (ED) of a tertiary care centre following an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Paramedics were called by the patient's wife after he had collapsed. She immediately initiated cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). ⋯ An electrocardiogram shows ST-segment elevation in the anterior leads. Just prior to arrival, the patient suffers recurrent cardiac arrest with two further rounds of unsuccessful defibrillation in the ED. At this point, a decision is made to proceed with extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (ECPR), prior to transport for cardiac catheterization.
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Case Reports
Just the Facts: Risk stratifying non-traumatic back pain for spinal epidural abscess in the emergency department.
A 65-year-old male with a history of hypertension presents to the emergency department (ED) with new onset of non-traumatic back pain. The patient is investigated for life-threatening diagnoses and screened for "red flag symptoms," including fever, neurologic abnormalities, bowel/bladder symptoms, and a history of injectiondrug use (IVDU). ⋯ Whole spine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) confirms a thoracic spinal epidural abscess. This case, and many like it, prompts the questions: when should emergency physicians consider the diagnosis of a spinal epidural abscess, and what is the appropriate evaluation of these patients in the ED? (Figure 1).
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Opioid use disorder is a major public health crisis, and evidence suggests ways of better serving patients who live with opioid use disorder in the emergency department (ED). A multi-disciplinary team developed a quality improvement project to implement this evidence. ⋯ Emergency clinicians can effectively initiate patients on buprenorphine/naloxone when supports for this standardized evidence-based care are in place within their practice setting and timely follow-up in community is available.
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Little is known about how the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) residency programs are selecting their residents. This creates uncertainty regarding alignment between current selection processes and known best practices. We seek to describe the current selection processes of Canadian RCEM programs. ⋯ We have identified elements of the selection process that will inform recommendations for programs, students, and referees. We encourage programs to conduct regular reviews of their selection process going forward to be in alignment with best practices.