Everyone knows about the CRASH-2 trial. It is now a decade old. It doesn’t seem like it desperately needs a new blog post, but I think that understanding this trial is important when trying to interpret the results of the newer CRASH-3 or WOMAN trials, and other TXA research that […]
EM literature (critical appraisals)
99 posts
Tamiflu doesn’t work – at least not for anything important. In fact, because of its many side effects, it is probably harmful. For anyone following this evidence based debacle over the last decade, I think that conclusion is pretty clear. You can read a little bit about the Tamiflu saga […]
Since my rather lengthy write up of the stroke literature, there have been new RCTs published looking at thrombolytics for acute ischemic stroke. No, we haven’t got the replication of NINDS that we so desperately need. However, the new trials do represent a step forward in our thinking about stroke: […]
There have been a few new thrombolytic RCTs since I published my review of the stroke literature, and it is probably about time that I got around to writing about them. On the one hand, I think it is exciting that we are moving past the flawed time-based selection of […]
Time for another semi-regular round-up of the top emergency medicine and critical care articles I have encountered over the last few months. This time we will tackle anti-epileptics, anti-emetics, the word “quiet”, and a whole bunch more…
Superstitions are sort of fun. They represent a lack of scientific understanding and critical thinking that I obviously hate, but they also offer us interesting and relatively harm free insights into the many failings of human cognition. I say “quiet” a lot. I like the word. Although it occasionally upsets […]
In the classic algorithm for status epilepticus, we give 2 doses of a benzodiazepine followed by phenytoin. Since the introduction of levetiracetam, we have seen a lot of strong opinions about the best second line agent, but we never had much data. (I have argued that we actually need to […]
We have new evidence looking at the use of vasopressors through a peripheral IV. I have covered this topic before, and after reviewing the available literature in 2018, my conclusion was “I think it is clear that the administration of peripheral vasopressors is not only acceptable, but will occasionally be […]
I first heard of the concept of an emergency department integrated intensive care unit (or ED-ICU) from Scott Weingart on EMCrit. In my mind, this job sounds perfect. You get to manage the first few hours of undifferentiated critical illness. These hours are, in my mind, the most interesting in […]