It is that time of year.  It is cold and croup is in the air.  There is a spectrum of patients that present ranging from the mild to the life threatening.  We discuss how to manage these patients.

Now that our month of point of care ultrasound (POCUS) is over, it is time to talk about other clinically relevant topics.  Michelle Perkins is back again this time to help us cover tickborne illnesses in the United States.

We wrap up our month of discussing point of care ultrasound (POCUS) papers by having our guest Michelle Perkins.  Over the last couple of years a flurry of evidence has come out regarding abscess management.  Now, POCUS is taking center stage in a recent paper.  Here to help us discuss it is one of our favorite guests, Michelle Perkins.

There are many ways to confirm successful intubation.  Some are better than others, but they all have limitations.  One newer approach is the use of point of care ultrasound (POCUS) to provide real-time confirmation of tube placement.  We will talk about how to do this exam and its evidence in this blog and podcast.

Although point of care ultrasound (POCUS) is a valuable tool, there are times that a formal radiology performed ultrasound is needed.  We continue our October POCUS month marathon with a discussion on this topic and how we can improve success for our radiology colleagues.  Mainly, we want patient's to have a properly sized bladder that will allow for the best imaging on transabdominal pelvic ultrasound.

Continuing in our month long discussion of point of care ultrasound (POCUS), we move to talking about patient understanding and satisfaction.  This is all in conjunction with Practical POCUS which will be having courses at the end of this year.  ​We have previously heard that the use of bedside ultrasound has helped with patient satisfaction, but a recent paper investigated the benefits with improving patient understanding.

The month of October is often associated with Halloween and people think "hocus pocus" but this time we are promoting point of care ultrasound (POCUS) with a month-long discussion of subjects regarding bedside ultrasound.  This is all in conjunction with Practical POCUS which will be having courses at the end of this year.  Our first topic, ultrasound for the diagnosis of urolithiasis.

Recently, Dr. Jeff Jarvis was published in the Annals of Emergency Medicine for a paper regarding a clinical bundle he developed to reduce complications during intubation.  Specifically, his paper was to help reduce hypoxia in out-of-hospital intubation attempts.  However, the pearls can be used by anyone managing the airway of a patient.

What happens when you have someone who is anticoagulated fall and have minor head trauma?  They are talking to you, they appear neurologically intact, and they feel like they can go home.  Do you let them or do you still encourage a CT scan of their head?  There is a recent paper that may change your practice.

Firefighters are exposed to a number of dangers on a daily basis.  With this being the anniversary of 9/11, we want to dedicate this blog and podcast to all the victims from that day.  Most of us are already very familiar with issues that arise with firefighters such as PTSD and the impact on the body from long hours, overtime, and physical stress.  Unfortunately, we often forget about the other needs and special scenarios that firefighters come across and will cover some of the key aspects in this blog and podcast.