The Beers criteria (named after Dr. Beers and not your Friday night escapades) is a guideline to help guide safe prescribing practices in the geriatric population. Polypharmacy and medication side effects are a common, and generally under-recognized, reason for patients to present to the emergency department. Adverse events and drug […]
ebm reviews Rapid Review
42 posts
Syphilis is on the rise. Across North America, we are seeing syphilis rates unheard of since we abandoned the lambskin condom. (OK, I have no idea if that is factually accurate, but I always imagined syphilis and lambskin going hand in hand.) In Canada, there were 96 cases of congenital […]
As part of the Rapid Review series, I try to highlight key points from important guidelines. I am not sure that this guideline from the American College of Cardiology rises to that level, but I had to review it to update the EM:RAP CorePendium chapter, so I might as well […]
Although I have ranted about the problems with guidelines in the past, there are some that do a reasonable job discussing the evidence, and they are often helpful for rarely seen conditions. Sudden hearing loss is a problem I only see occasionally in the emergency department, and I have never […]
Sexual assault (SA) and intimate partner violence (IPV) are disturbingly common, with 1 in 3 women experiencing this kind of violence in their lifetime1. These patients are being seen in our EDs every day – a CDC study of an urban ED waiting room found 50% of people there had […]
In the Rapid Review series, I briefly review the key points of a clinical review paper (or two). With reports of monkeypox cases arising around the world (Canada, United Kingdom, Europe, and United States), I figured we had better do a quick review of the disease, because it was either […]
I have a long history of complaining about guidelines and their seeming disregard for science and common sense. Therefore, when I sat down to read the most recent AHA guidelines on the evaluation and diagnosis of chest pain, I expected to be disappointed. Honestly, I was pleasantly surprised. It is […]
In the Rapid Review series, we (somewhat) briefly review the key points of a clinical review paper (or three). The topic this time: hepatic encephalopathy. This is a guest post by Punithan Thiagalingam (@_punithant), an MD student at the University of Toronto. He has a background in biochemistry and development […]
I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens Feels like Christmas came early this year, with the American Academy of Pediatrics gifting […]