Department Blog - December 2016

Ben Lawner, DO, MS, EMT-P, with co-authors J.V. Nable, MD, EMT-P, and William Brady, MD, published a review of recent emergency medical services articles in the November issue of the American Journal of Emergency Medicine. Their article focuses on trends in prehospital care and medical conditions at the intersection of EMS and emergency medicine, addressing the following topics: acute myocardial infarction, behavioral emergencies, cardiac arrest, sepsis, stroke, and trauma.

Laura Bontempo, MD, MEd, Michael Bond, MD, and Bryan Hayes, PharmD, with colleagues from the School of Pharmacy (Michelle C. Hines, PharmD, Brent Reed, PharmD, and Vijay Ivaturi, PhD), published the article titled “Diltiazem Versus Metoprolol for Rate Control in Atrial Fibrillation with Rapid Ventricular Response in the Emergency Department” in the December issue of the American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy (73[24]:2068-2076). Based on their retrospective review of 100 patients’ records, the authors found that the most significant predictor of medication selection in the ED was the drug class used for rate control before the ED admission.

Dr. Amal Mattu and his colleagues from the University of Virginia, the University of California San Francisco, and Oregon Health & Sciences University, have back-to-back electrocardiographic case reports in the December issue of Annals of Emergency Medicine. The first article (68:671-3) describes the assessment of a woman with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, who came to the emergency department when she experienced palpitations and weakness. The second report (68:674-7) describes a woman with hypertension and diabetes mellitus, who sought emergency treatment for chest pain, nausea, dyspnea, and diaphoresis. This column in Annals starts with a description of patients’ presentations, including the ECG, and asks the reader to reach a diagnosis before reading the experts’ analysis.