REBEL Cast

Lead aVR is a commonly ignored lead and I have even heard of it referred to as the Rodney Dangerfield of ECG leads as it gets no respect. I have anecdotally heard many EM physicians activate the cath lab for STE in lead aVR and many cardiologists say that these are not STEMI patients. So […]

We are getting closer to the end of the year and pretty soon 3rd year residents will be graduating and moving on to their first jobs as attending physicians.  My own residents have been asking for advice, and I thought this would be a great opportunity to ask some EM educators what their advice would […]

Background: Headache accounts for approximately 2% of all ED visits. One of the most serious etiologies of headache is aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH), which accounts for 4 – 12% of ED patients with thunderclap headache. There have been several studies in the past few years suggesting that in neurologically intact patients, the sensitivity of modern […]

Welcome to the December 2015 REBELCast, where Swami, Matt, and I are going to tackle a couple of topics in the world of Cardiology and Critical Care. First of all, we all know that the optimal treatment for STEMI is getting the patient to the cardiac catheterization lab, and time is muscle, but does it help […]

Welcome to the November 2015 REBELCast, where Swami, Matt, and I are going to tackle a couple of topics in the world of Vascular Access. Peripheral intravenous (PIV) access is one of the most common procedures we perform in the emergency department (ED) and central venous catheter (CVC), although decreasing in frequency, has some very real […]

In case you have not heard or not read it on the twittersphere, the American Heart Association just released their 2015 Guidelines Update for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) and Emergency Cardiovascular Care (ECC) in Circulation. I am joined by Mr. Security, Matt Astin for this episode and we both read through this massive 15 part document and […]

Welcome to the October 2015 REBELCast, where Swami, Matt, and I are going to tackle a couple of topics in the world of Trauma, specifically ED Thoracotomy. Now we all know that ED thoracotomy is a last ditch salvage effort, performed under specific clinical circumstances, during a traumatic arrest. The purpose of the ED thoracotomy is to […]

Welcome to the September 2015 REBELCast, where Swami, Matt, and I are going to tackle a couple of topics in the world of Venous Thromboembolism (VTE). Seems like we are hearing more and more about VTE in terms of workup, management, etc. Lets face it, diagnosing someone with a pulmonary embolism (PE) is no longer as simple […]

Welcome to the August 2015 REBELCast, where Swami, Matt, and I are going to tackle a couple of topics. First topic: renal colic. Renal colic is a commonly seen condition encountered in emergency departments and the use of medical expulsive therapy (MET) is commonly recommended by our urology colleagues. Proponents of MET in the treatment of ureteric colic advocate for them […]

Background: We know that cardiac arrest is a devastating disease and that it occurs in approximately 400,000 Americans each year. In the few patients who achieve return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) and survive past the pre-hospital stage, mortality rates range from 50 – 60% depending on which sources you read. Neurologic injury is the primary […]

Welcome to the July 2015 REBELCast, where Swami, Matt, and I are going to talk oxygen. It is important to remember that oxygen is a drug, and just like any drug we prescribe to patients it has potential side effects.  Although there is a paucity of clinical trial data to support routine use of supplemental oxygen, most […]

Welcome back to a special edition, or should I say “bootcamp edition” of REBELCast. We have started to do something new by inviting guests onto the show to discuss papers in the literature they find interesting. This month I had the pleasure of working with Steve Carroll, an emergency room physician in my neck of […]

Acute severe asthma, formerly called status asthmaticus, is defined as severe asthma unresponsive to repeated courses of beta-agonist therapy or subcutaneous epinephrine. It is a medical emergency that requires immediate recognition and treatment. Recently, Anand Swaminathan (Twitter: @EMSwami) gave a lecture to the residents at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSCSA) […]

Welcome to the May 2015 REBELCast, where Swami, Matt, and I are going to tackle a couple of articles just published this year.  First, there is a lack of research examining the efficacy of steroids in patients with allergic reactions or anaphylaxis. Despite this, corticosteroids are standard care for patients with these disorders. Second, current regulations […]

So I was recently invited to the Texas College of Emergency Physicians meeting in Austin, TX (April 23rd – 26th, 2015) and was asked to give a lecture on sepsis, titled “Optimizing ED Management of Sepsis.” I was able to record my audio from that lecture and will summarize it on this blogpost and attach […]