Contributor: Peter Bakes, MD Educational Pearls: While there are many different types of medical error, one of the most common errors in emergency medicine is failure to diagnose Systematic error in thinking that negatively affects judgement Medical errors are often driven by cognitive biases, which include anchoring, attribution, and availability Anchoring bias occurs when…
Read MoreAuthor: Dylan Luyten, MD Educational Pearls: Actual wait times are weakly correlated to patient satisfaction but the difference between perceived/expected wait times and actual wait times is strongly correlated Having others in the room or with the patient while they wait also has a positive effect Under-promising and over-delivering can result in better patient experience…
Read MoreAuthor: Aaron Lessen, MD Educational Pearls: A problem of take-home-naloxone is the administration of it by an able-bodied bystander Australian study looked at consecutive opioid overdose deaths in a single year to identify characteristics of overdose and potential for bystander administered naloxone Of the 235 fatal heroin overdoses reviewed, 83% were alone with only 17%…
Read MoreAuthor: Mark Kozlowski M.D. Educational Pearls: Humans cannot “multitask” effectively – a more accurate term is “task interruption.” When doing more than one task at once, we are more likely to forget key details and perform both tasks more slowly overall. Do not interrupt people who are focusing on critical tasks – programming a pump…
Read MoreRun Time: 4 minutes Author: Suzanne Chilton M.D. Educational Pearls: For psych-specific cases where a minor is being transferred for a higher level of care, a judge or department of social services can be engaged to obtain temporary custody of the minor. The same situation as if the minor had acute appendicitis, there is no…
Read MoreRun Time: 2 minutes Author: Stephen Lee, PharmD, BCPS Educational Pearls: In 2016, a tertiary stroke center performed a study on the estimation of weight in stroke patients needing TPA. TPA can be a life and lifestyle saving medication for patients with acute CVA and getting an accurate weight is essential to giving the correct…
Read MoreRun Time: 2 minutes Author: Dylan Luyten M.D. Educational Pearls: Axiom: a universally accepted truth. Pseudo Axiom: Something that is held to be a truth, but is just handed down, and not questioned or scrutinized. The use of sterile saline to irrigate wounds has been aggressively studied and definitively demonstrated to be unnecessary. Studies have…
Read MoreRun Time: 3 minutes Author: Jared Scott M.D. Educational Pearls: Recent study in the Annals of Emergency Medicine as of January 2016 looking at the efficacy of a Sepsis Protocol in an Emergency Department. The looked at 180 patients before using the protocol and 180 patients after using the protocol. It was noted that the…
Read MoreRun Time: 2 minutes Author: Dr. Suzanne Chilton Educational Pearls: The American Academy of Pediatrics changed terminology for ALTE – Apparent Life Threatening Event in infants. The new term is BRUE – Brief Resolved Unexplained Event, which is much less scary. These children are also now divided into high and low risk categories. BRUE encompasses any…
Read MoreRun Time: 2 minutes Author: Dr. Dylan Luyten Educational Pearls: Study looked at that IV catheter secured with Dermabond – studied the rate of failure within 48 hours, rate of dislodgment, rate of infection, rate of phlebitis, and pain. There was statistically significant lower rate of failure and dislodgment by 10% with Dermabond when compared…
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