The St.Emlyn's Podcast

Ep 4 - Diagnostics 2. Beyond simple yes vs no diagnostics. St.Emlyn's

Dear all,

It would appear that the organ member was correct and we cannot be certain about the organ pipes. Apparently there are doubts about whether they are safe or need replacing. 

We will once again turn to Dr Beardsell and Prof. Carley to see if there is anything more that we can do. As I am due to allocate funds for repairs to musical instruments this year then we must ensure that these are spent wisely. 

If there is a less than 2% chance of failure we will wait. If there is a greater than 50% chance of failure then we should spend the money. 

The situation is uncertain and we need help.

I have the honour to be et. etc. etc.

The Choirmaster at St.Emlyn's

Ep 6 - SMACC Back-Back on What to believe and when to change.

Hopefully you will have already seen and listened to my SMACC talk on 'What to believe and when to change'. If not then please whizz over to the site now and have a listen. I really enjoyed exploring the uncertainties that exist around when we decide to adopt or abandon therapies.

My belief is that it's really difficult to define the perfect moment and that it's only in retrospect that we can define it.

Since appearing on the ICN network and St.Emlyn's, Scott Weingart, one of the best and most innovative clinicians I know has come back and argued for early adoption. You can check out his rationale on his site and see what you think.

I actually agree with many of the things he tells us, although he has confined himself to one side of the argument. In terms of a defence of early adoption he makes a good case, but like all debates there needs to be another side to the story, so sit back and listen to why we must reflect hard on the decisions we make in deciding what we do, why we do it, and most importantly when.

vb

S

Ep 20 - Understanding Troponin Part 3: The NICE guidance.

Rick and Iain explore how the latest guidance about the use of high sensitivity troponin was developed and how far we can be assured that it is evidence based.

The NICE guidance is available here. http://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/dg15

vb

S

Ep 32 - The Christmas review podcast 2014

A Christmas review of the world of EM, CC and resuscitation #FOAMed.

This review is no way exclusive and focuses on sites that people may not be  familiar with. Take it as read that EMCRIT, LITFL, PHARM, ICN, SGEM, EMLitofNote, ALiEM, Resus.me, KI docs, etc. are already known to be awesome. Check them out and follow the many excellent #FOAMed sites around the world.

Check out the big hitters here http://www.aliem.com/social-media-index/

There are also so many other sites that we have not mentioned, but which we regularly visit and listen to.

vb

S

Ep 35 - New (or are they really new) Oral Anticoagulants and the Emergency Physician PART 1

Rick Body and Kerstin de Wit discuss the role of NOACs in clinical management. Part 1 addresses the basics, stuff you should know if you are prescribing these drugs.

Part 1 tells us the good stuff, don't forget to listen to 2 and 3 in the next few weeks as not everything is perfect ;-)

Check out the BLOG POST HERE
vb

R

Ep 75 - Critical Appraisal Nugget 1: Randomisation

Our series on critical appraisal nuggets in 5-10 mins. This week it's Randomisation. Great if you are revising for an exam in critical appraisal (e.g. FRCEM).

Ep 77 - Critical Appraisal Nugget 2: Blinding and Masking in clinical trials

Rick and Simon talk blinding (and masking) for your critical appraisal delight.

See more at http://stemlynsblog.org/cans-critical-appraisal-nuggets-st-emlyns/

Ep 79 - Critical Appraisal Nugget: Selection Bias

Prof Rick Body and Niall Morris, Clinical Research Fellow, discuss selection bias and how it can affect clinical research.

This podcast is the third in the St Emlyn's series "Clinical Appraisal Nuggets".

Ep 89 - March 2017 Round Up

In a new podcast format Simon (@EMManchester) and Iain (@docib) discuss the month's offerings from the St Emlyn's blog and podcast (www.stemlynsblog.org).

 

It's been a month full of interesting posts on subjects as diverse as Thrombolysis in Stroke (Alan Grayson), The Future of Emergency Medicine in the Social Age (Simon), Cardiac Arrest Centres (Simon), Love in Critical Care (Liz Crowe), Transfers (Nat and Simon), Thrombolysis in PE (a guest post from FOAMed legend Anand Swarminathan) and Benzos in Back Pain (Janos). Head to the website for the articles themselves and all the references and links you need.

 

We're aiminig to make this a regular monthly podcast - let us know if it's useful and enjoyable and how we could make it even more educational.

Ep 90 - Top Ten Trauma Papers 2016

Iain and Simon chat through our top ten trauma papers for 2016. Lots here for anyone who is interested in trauma including whole body CT, traumatic cardiac arrest, neurosurgery in severe head injury and much more. As ever we'd suggest you read the original papers, references for which along with a blogpost can all be found here http://stemlynsblog.org/top-10-trauma-papers-2016-st-emlyns/

 

 

Ep 99 - October 2017 Round Up

Simon (@EMManchester) and Iain (@docib) review some of the articles from the St Emlyns blog site (http://stemlynsblog.org/) from recent weeks and chat about the current state of Emergency Medicine in the UK.

1:00 - How to declare a Major Incident - http://stemlynsblog.org/how-to-declare-a-major-incident-st-emlyns/

3:10 -  RCEM ASC 2017 – Update on the TiLLI study - http://stemlynsblog.org/rcem-asc-2017-update-on-the-tilli-study/

6:03 - The rise and SURPRISE of the DOACs - http://stemlynsblog.org/the-rise-and-surprise-of-the-doacs/

8:08 - Life as an EM Trainee in South Africa -  https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-st-emlyns-virtual-hospital-podcast/id547326956?mt=2&i=1000393179333

9:26 - Rheum for Improvement? The physical challenge of EM training - http://stemlynsblog.org/rheum-for-improvement-st-emlyns/ Harriet's website is here  - https://www.rheumforimprovement.com/

10:47 - JC: Oxygen in ACS. A fuss about nothing? The DETO2X Trial - http://stemlynsblog.org/oxygen-in-acs-a-fuss-about-nothing/. Paper is here - http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1706222

11:57 - Is cMyC the new troponin? - http://stemlynsblog.org/cmyc-new-troponin/

13:00 - Who gets a Tetanus? You get a Tetanus! - http://stemlynsblog.org/tetanus-in-the-ed/

14:22 - Mass Casualty Incidents: Lessons from AAST - http://stemlynsblog.org/mass-casualty-incidents-lessons-aast-st-emlyns/

15:00 - The Annual Scientific Conference and the State of EM

Ep 102 - HEMS, reflections and St.Emlyn's e-books.

Natalie and Simon discuss reflections, e-books and life at Sydney HEMS. This week we have added Lorikeets in the background (Nat recorded at Coogee Bay in NSW). We think they sound cute so we've kept them in (or rather we could not edit them out).

S

Ep 108 - February 2018 Round Up

Iain and Simon review the best of the blog from February 2018.

Simon Carley

Ep 121 - October 2018 Round Up

Here's our round up of the best of the blog from October 2018.

In Pursuit of Excellence with Natalie May from #stemlynsLIVE https://www.stemlynsblog.org/in-pursuit-of-excellence/

A FeminEM in NY with Natalie May Part 1. https://www.stemlynsblog.org/fix18-part-one/

JC: Cricoid Pressure, Do we still need it? Simon Carley https://www.stemlynsblog.org/jc-cricoid-pressure-and-rsi-do-we-still-need-it-st-emlyns/

Teaching and Learning in Stretched Environments with Simon Carley https://www.stemlynsblog.org/teaching-and-learning-in-stretched-environments-rsm-2018-st-emlyns/

Five free strategies to improve your resuscitations Simon Carley https://www.stemlynsblog.org/stemlynslive-five-free-strategies-to-improve-your-resuscitation-practice-st-emlyns/

PTSD and me, EMDR therapy with Rusty Carroll https://www.stemlynsblog.org/ptsd-and-me-part-3-emdr-therapy-st-emlyns/

 

Ep 122 - Beyond ALS with Salim Rezaie at #stemlynsLIVE

Salim Rezaie from the REBEL EM podcast takes us through the optimal management of cardiac arrest and also explores some of the controversies and difficulties that make the difference to our patients. 

You can read a lot more about the background to this talk, see the evidence and watch the video on the St Emlyn's site. Just follow this link. https://www.stemlynsblog.org/beyond-acls-salim-rezaie-at-stemlynslive/ 

Ep 125 - November 2018 Round Up

 

November was a busy month for the St Emlyn's team with a variety of blogs on conferences, EBM, philosophy and education. Here's the podcast and the links to the blogs mentioned in November.

 

FeminEM part 2 with Natalie May https://www.stemlynsblog.org/fix18-part-two/ 

 

FeminEM part 3 with Natalie May https://www.stemlynsblog.org/fix18-part-three/ 

 

Dan Horner on the POLAR trial of hypothermia in brain injury https://www.stemlynsblog.org/jc-hypothermia-in-brain-injury-the-polar-trial-st-emlyns/ 

 

Zaf Qasim on whole blood in trauma https://www.stemlynsblog.org/whole-blood-in-trauma-st-emlyns/ 

 

Nick Smith on Cognitive Load theory https://www.stemlynsblog.org/education-theories-you-should-know-cognitive-load-theory-st-emlyns/ 

 

Claire Bromley on her experience on elective in Cape Town https://www.stemlynsblog.org/south-africa-as-a-medical-student-elective-claire-bromley/ 

 

Natalie May on why resuscitation is not sexy https://www.stemlynsblog.org/so-unsexy/ 

 

Learning in the social age with Simon Carley https://www.stemlynsblog.org/learning-in-the-social-age-st-emlyns-at-emerge10/ 

 

Salim Rezaie on Advanced ACLS - beyonfd the guidelines https://www.stemlynsblog.org/beyond-acls-salim-rezaie-at-stemlynslive/ 

 

Ep 128 - Can we use diagnostic probability to guide treatment thresholds in ACS with Charlie Reynard and Rick Body

This is a really important concept developed by Charlie Reynard and Rick Body here in Manchester. There is an accompanying paper in the EMJ that you can read via this link https://emj.bmj.com/content/34/12/A870 

This concept could radically change how we make probabilistic prescribing decisions in the ED. Have a listen and look out for a blog post on St Emlyn's soon.

Ep 129 - January 2019 Round Up

The latest blog posts, ideas and thoughts from the St Emlyn's podcast. This month with Simon Carley and Rick Body,

Ep 130 - Critical Appraisal Nuggets: p-values

Part of the critical appraisal nuggets series. You can read more here https://www.stemlynsblog.org/cans-critical-appraisal-nuggets-st-emlyns/ 

Also mentioned in this podcast

1. Definition of p-values on the bottom line https://www.thebottomline.org.uk/blog/ebm/p-value/

2. Fragility index https://lifeinthefastlane.com/ccc/fragility-index/ 

3. Confidence interval https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confidence_interval 

Ep 133 - February 2019 Round Up

Our regular monthly round up of the best of the blog from Feb 2019.

Ep 134 - March 2019 Round Up

Here’s our regular monthly round up of the best of the blog from March 2019

 

Ep 139 - May 2019 Round Up

Our regular monthly round up, this month with Ian and Simon chatting through the best of the blog.

The power of peer review: https://www.stemlynsblog.org/smacc2019-the-power-of-peer-review/

Virtual reality in PED: https://www.stemlynsblog.org/jc-virtual-reality-for-distraction-from-paediatric-procedural-pain/

Wellbeing for the broken: https://www.stemlynsblog.org/wellbeing-for-the-broken-part-3-the-podcast-st-emlyns/ 

Traumatic cardiac arrest https://www.stemlynsblog.org/wellbeing-for-the-broken-part-3-the-podcast-st-emlhttps://www.stemlynsblog.org/jc-should-we-use-chest-compressions-in-traumatic-cardiac-arrest-st-emlyns/

Should we cardiovert AF in the ED or wait? https://www.stemlynsblog.org/should-we-rapidly-cardiovert-af-in-the-ed-st-emlyns/ 

Prolonged field care in the ED https://www.stemlynsblog.org/prolonged-field-care-in-the-ed/

Keppra or Phenytoin for status epilepticus in kids https://www.stemlynsblog.org/jc-enter-sandman-which-agent-as-second-line-in-paediatric-status-epilepticus/ 

Ep 140 - GI emergencies with Chris Gray at #stemlynsLIVE

This is Chris's talk from #stemlynsLIVE on GI emergencies. Remember to check out the blog for the background, references and more.

 

Ep 141 - June 2019 Round Up

Here's our regular round up of the blog and podcast from June 2019.

 

Beyond ATLS https://www.stemlynsblog.org/beyond-atls-with-alan-grayson-at-stemlynslive-st-emlyns/

Traumatic Cardiac Arrest https://www.stemlynsblog.org/traumatic-cardiac-arrest-tca-podcast-with-prof-jason-smith-rn-st-emlyns/

The psychological impact of emergency medicine https://www.stemlynsblog.org/how-events-in-emergency-medicine-impact-doctors-psychological-well-being-st-emlyns/

Can we use IO aspirate for analysis https://www.stemlynsblog.org/jc-can-we-really-use-io-blood-for-analysis-st-emlyns/

Don't forget the Bubbles conference and site https://dontforgetthebubbles.com/ 

Ep 143 - The Future of Diagnostics with Rick Body

Prof. Rick Body is an internationally recognised expert in diagnostic testing. In this podcast he takes us through diagnostics today and also the near future which may change almost everything. 

You can read more and see the slides/video at http://www.stemlynsblog.com

Ep 144 - July 2019 Round Up

The best from the blog and podcast in July 2019. 

JC: Clot’s the Problem? Vena Cava filters in trauma patients. St Emlyn’s

Psychological performance in the resus room. Ashley Liebig at #stemlynsLIVE

JC: The Resuscitative Care Unit. St Emlyn’s

The great day paradox. St.Emlyn’s

All you need to know about Listeria. St Emlyn’s.

GI Emergencies – Chris Gray at #StEmlynsLIVE

Similar challenges, different approaches – Mass Casualty Incident training lessons from Pakistan. St Emlyn’s

 

Ep 147 - August 2019 Round Up

Our regular round up of the best and the brightest from the St Emlyn's blog. This is a round up of our August content.

Ep 154 - January 2020 Round Up

Iain is back on the podcast with Simon to talk through the best of the blog from January 2020.

Ep 159 - Covid 19. Lessons from Sports and Exercise Medicinewith John Rogers and Nathan Lewis

Simon interviews Dr John Rogers and Dr Nathan Lewis on respiratory infection prevention.

John a Sports and Exercise Medicine Consultant in Manchester. He is also Chief Medical Officer for British Triathlon and Visiting Professor in Sport & Exercise Medicine at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Nathan is lead performance nutrition scientist at the English Institute of Sport and at ORRECO.

These two academics take us through how sports science might be able to support our wellbeing during the Covid19 pandemic.

 

References

1. Recommendations to maintain immune health in athletes https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tejs20
2. Probiotics https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD006895.pub3/epdf/full 
3. Vitamin D and Respiratory Tract Infections: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23840373/
4. Vitamin C for prevention and treatment of pneumonia https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD013134/full
5. Vitamin C and common cold https://www.cochrane.org/CD000980/ARI_vitamin-c-for-preventing-and-treating-the-common-cold 
6. Effect of Flavonoids on Upper Respiratory Tract Infections and Immune Function: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27184276/
7. Vitamin C and Infections https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28353648/
8. Zinc lozenges and the common cold: a meta-analysis comparing zinc acetate and zinc gluconate, and the role of zinc dosage https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28515951/

 

 

 

Ep 160 - March 2020 Round Up

Iain and Simon discuss Covid19 and more in this review of the best of the blog from March 2020.

Ep 162 - Beyond the ED: COVID-19 and Critical Care with Dan Horner

In this podcast, Dan and Iain talk about the clinical journey of a COVID-19 patient, beyond the ED, with insights from the critical care unit. There are some concepts here that we don’t have time to do full justice to in the podcast, so there is a comprehensive set of "show notes" and all the references at www.stemlynsblog.org/covid-19-and-critical-care

Ep 163 - COVID-19 Journal Club #2

Welcome to our second webinar on recent research about COVID-19, hosted by the University of Manchester, Manchester Royal Infirmary and Royal College of Emergency Medicine in collaboration with St Emlyn’s.

The panel was hosted by Rick Body. The panel includes Prof Paul Klapper (Professor of Clinical Virology), Dr Charlie Reynard (NIHR Clinical Research Fellow), Prof Pam Vallely (Professor of Medical Virology), Dr Anisa Jafar (Academic Clinical Lecturer), Dr Casey Parker and Prof Simon Carley (you know him…) to discuss six papers about COVID-19 infection.

The live event took place on Tuesday 21st April 2020

References: 

Paper 1 (00:00) Tang W, Cao Z, Han M, et al. Hydroxychloroquine in patients with COVID-19: an open-label, randomized, controlled trial. April 2020. doi:10.1101/2020.04.10.20060558

Paper 2 (12:09) Bendavid E, Mulaney B, Sood N, et al. COVID-19 Antibody Seroprevalence in Santa Clara County, California. April 2020. doi:10.1101/2020.04.14.20062463

 

Paper 3 (16:40) Wölfel R, Corman VM, Guggemos W, et al. Virological assessment of hospitalized patients with COVID-2019. Nature. April 2020. doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2196-x

 

Paper 4 (23:33) Favas C. Guidance for the Prevention of COVID-19 Infections among High-Risk Individuals in Camps and Camp-like Settings. London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine; 2020:1-15. https://www.lshtm.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2020-04/Guidance%20for%20the%20prevention%20of%20COVID-19%20infections%20among%20high-risk%20individuals%20in%20camps%20and%20camp-like%20settings.pdf. Accessed April 21, 2020.

 

Paper 5 (30:30) Zeng J-H, Liu Y-X, Yuan J, et al. First case of COVID-19 complicated with fulminant myocarditis: a case report and insights. Infection. April 2020. doi:10.1007/s15010-020-01424-5

 

Paper 6 (35:02) Caruso D, Zerunian M, Polici M, et al. Chest CT Features of COVID-19 in Rome, Italy. Radiology. April 2020:201237. doi:10.1148/radiol.2020201237

 

Podcast edited by Izzy Carley and Iain Beardsell

Ep 165 - April 2020 Round Up

 

It's been another busy month at St Emlyn's, with the publication of 15 blog posts and five podcasts, but there does seem to be an awful lot to talk about!

 

Of course there have been multiple posts and podcasts about COVID-19, and you can fiind all of these on our special St Emlyn's page. Highlights have included the three RCEM/St Emlyn's Webinars which we are delighted to host in podcast form.

 

It's not just been coronavirus though, we have also dipped out toes into exercise and nutrition, graphic design and horticulture!

 

Parts of the site have also undergone a bit of a redesign with the curriculum pages now easier to navigate to find that post to fioll an e-portfolio hole.

 

 

We hope you're finding all of our output useful. Please do subscribe to the website (in the top right hand corner) and rate our podcast on iTunes.

 

They'll be much more to come in May I am sure.

 

Take care

 

Iain

Podcast edited by Izzy Carley

 

Ep 166 - COVID-19 Journal Club #4 (May 2020)

Welcome to our fourth webinar and journal club reviewing recent research and featuring COVID-19 updates, hosted by the University of Manchester, Manchester Royal Infirmary and Royal College of Emergency Medicine in collaboration with St Emlyn's.

 

The live event tool place on Tuesday 5th May at 11.30am BST (10.30am GMT). 

 

The panel was again be hosted by Rick Body The panel includes Prof Paul Klapper (Professor of Clinical Virology), Dr Charlie Reynard (NIHR Clinical Research Fellow), Dr Anisa Jafar (Academic Clinical Lecturer), Prof Pam Vallely (Professor of Medical Virology), Prof Simon Carley and special guest Justin Morgenstern to discuss six papers about COVID-19 infection.

 

There will be another COVID 19 Journal Club next week (Tuesday 12th May at 11am).

 

References

1. He X, Lau EHY, Wu P, et al. Temporal dynamics in viral shedding and transmissibility of COVID-19. Nat Med. Published online April 15, 2020. doi:10.1038/s41591-020-0869-5

 

2. Bahl P, Doolan C, de Silva C, Chughtai AA, Bourouiba L, MacIntyre CR. Airborne or Droplet Precautions for Health Workers Treating Coronavirus Disease 2019? The Journal of Infectious Diseases. Published online April 16, 2020. doi:10.1093/infdis/jiaa189.

 

3. Wang Y, Zhang D, Du G, et al. Remdesivir in adults with severe COVID-19: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicentre trial. The Lancet. Published online April 2020. doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(20)31022-9

 

4. Rajendran K, Narayanasamy K, Rangarajan J, Rathinam J, Natarajan M, Ramachandran A. Convalescent plasma transfusion for the treatment of COVID‐19: Systematic review. J Med Virol. Published online May 2020. doi:10.1002/jmv.25961

 

5. Tedeschi S, Giannella M, Bartoletti M, et al. Clinical impact of renin-angiotensin system inhibitors on in-hospital mortality of patients with hypertension hospitalized for COVID-19. Clinical Infectious Diseases. Published online April 27, 2020. doi:10.1093/cid/ciaa492

 

6. Docherty AB, Harrison EM, Green CA, et al. Features of 16,749 hospitalised UK patients with COVID-19 using the ISARIC WHO Clinical Characterisation Protocol. Published online April 28, 2020. doi:10.1101/2020.04.23.20076042

 

Podcast edited from a live webinar by Izzy Carley 

Ep 168 - COVID-19 Journal Club #5 (May 2020)

Welcome to our fifth webinar and journal club reviewing recent research and featuring COVID-19 updates, hosted by the University of Manchester, Manchester Royal Infirmary and Royal College of Emergency Medicine in collaboration with St Emlyn’s.

The live event took place on Tuesday 12th May at 11.00am BST (10.00am GMT). 

The COVID-19 Journal Club Panel

Today’s panel was hosted by Rick Body The panel includes Prof Paul Klapper (Professor of Clinical Virology), Dr Charlie Reynard (NIHR Clinical Research Fellow), Prof Dan Horner, Dr Anisa Jafar, Prof Pam Vallely (Professor of Medical Virology), Prof Simon Carley and special guest Lauren Westafer (Attending in Emergency Medicine and Co-Creator of the Foamcast blog and podcast) and Ellie Hothershall (head of undergraduate medicine at the University of Dundee and an expert in Public Health) to discuss six papers about COVID-19 infection.

1. Lai S, Ruktanonchai NW, Zhou L, et al. Effect of non-pharmaceutical interventions to contain COVID-19 in China. Nature. May 2020. doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2293-x

2. Paranjpe I, Fuster V, Lala A, et al. Association of Treatment Dose Anticoagulation with In-Hospital Survival Among Hospitalized Patients with COVID-19. Journal of the American College of Cardiology. May 2020. doi:10.1016/j.jacc.2020.05.001

3. Thanh L, Andreadakis Z, Kumar A, et al. The COVID-19 vaccine development landscape. Nat Rev Drug Discov. 2020;19(5):305-306. doi:10.1038/d41573-020-00073-5

4. Bryan A, Pepper G, Wener MH, et al. Performance Characteristics of the Abbott Architect SARS-CoV-2 IgG Assay and Seroprevalence in Boise, Idaho. J Clin Microbiol. May 2020. doi:10.1128/jcm.00941-20

5. Treibel TA, Manisty C, Burton M, et al. COVID-19: PCR screening of asymptomatic health-care workers at London hospital. The Lancet. May 2020. doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(20)31100-4

6. Altmann S, Milsom L, Zillessen H, et al. Acceptability of app-based contact tracing for COVID-19: Cross-country survey evidence. May 2020. doi:10.1101/2020.05.05.20091587

 

Podcast edited from a live webinar by Izzy Carley

Ep 174 - June and July 2020 Round Up

Our own version of Buy One Get One Free* this month, where you get a round up of two months of blog content.

 

Coronavirus continues to dominate the medical (and non-medical) headlines, and we discuss the two major results from the RECOVERY trial published recently, one positive and one not so (depending on who you talk to....). Simon also catches up with Roberto Cosentini, who you'll remember from the very powerful podcast at the beginning of the pandemic.

 

COVID isn't the only EBM circus in town though: we've reviewed HALT-IT and Simon has given a talk about the "Ten Top Trauma Papers" of the last year and Laura reviewed a paper looking at haloperidol for headaches.

 

We're having to think even harder about how we communicate in the ED, both for clinical care and to deliver education. Two ideas to help learning have been featured this month: The St Emlyn's Lesson Plans and "Background Learning". 

 

Good luck to all those starting in Emergency Medicine, and a huge thank you to all those who are moving to other areas of medicine or other departments. It's been a curious few months...

 

Take care,

 

Iain

*It's actually Get One Free Get Another Free, but whose ever heard of that?

 

 

Ep 189 - April 2021 Round Up

A podcast with Iain and Simon summarising all the latest content from the St Emlyn's blog in April 2021. Topics discussed include Vaccine Induced Thrombocytopenic Thrombosis, how our own biases can effect our critical appraisal and whether we need to worry about grading the quality of FOAMed resources.

Thanks for listening. Please check out the blogs themselevs at www.stemlynsblog.org and consider subscribing and rating us on iTunes. 

If you'd like to see some more from Peter Brindley you can watch one of his SMACC talks here. 

Ep 202 - May 2022 Round Up

Our monthly round up of all from the St Emlyn's blog. We discuss pathways into emergency care research, pad positioning in cardioversion of AF and possible gender differences in the presciption of TXA in trauma.

We also chat about travel in Lithuania, memories of defibrillating with hand held paddles and Simon's recent forst infection with COVID.

We mention a post on Lyme disease which you can read here (especially if you live near the New Forest...)

 

Ep 203 - June and July 2022 Round Up

Simon and Iain run through the latest highlights from the St Emlyn's blog and podcast, including the FORCE study, the EXIT study and more about Vitamin C in sepsis...

 

We hope you enjoy the podcast. Please do like and subscribe on your preferred podcast app and tell your friends and colleagues about us. 

Ep 204 - August 2022 Round Up

This is our round up of all that happened on the St Emlyn's blog in August 2022 (yes - we know it's a bit late, but there's been a lot going on!).

Listen to Simon and Iain discuss the latest therapies in COVID, particularly Baricitinib, calcium in trauma and how we find balance in our work-life blend.

Please do like and subscribe to the podcast and tell your friends and colleagues. We've lots of exciting stuff coming your way over the next few months.

Ep 211 - Semi structured interviews (CAN 9)

Long term listeners to the St Emlyn’s podcast may remember our series entitled ‘Critical Appraisal Nuggets’ (CANs). We are absolutely delighted to reinvigorate this project under the leadership of Professor Rick Body, with the episode on semi structured interviews.

In this easily digestible and succinct podcast Rick and Laura Howard go through the pros and cons of setting up semi structured interviews and how these can be used effectively in qualitative research.

In the latest episode, we cover a qualitative research technique: semi-structured interviews. Qualitative research might be out of your comfort zone: we’re generally more comfortable with quantitative measures – numbers and statistics. It’s something they have experience with, having previously published a paper exploring the impact of events that happen at work on the wellbeing of emergency physicians. This was a labour of love for Laura. Laura wrote a powerful blog about it here.

Semi-structured interviews are a great way to get the really rich data we need to understand something in greater depth. They allow us to ask ‘why?’ as well as just ‘what?’, ‘who?’ and ‘when?’. But reading qualitative research papers can be difficult when it takes us out of our comfort zone. In this CAN podcast, Laura and Rick take us through what semi-structured interviews are, why we might use them, how you design and conduct them, and they also have some pearls of wisdom about how to make transcribing them a lot less painful. By the end, we hope that you’ll feel confident with the basics of the technique. And if you want to practice your critical appraisal, why not put their study under the microscope?

Ep 212 - February 2023 Monthly Round Up

Our regular monthly round up and chat from the St Emlyn's blog. We talk about the use of artificial intelligence in research and the use of remifentanil instead of neuromuscular blockade in rapid sequence intubation. Plus more about the StEmlynsWILD conference and Simon's new role as Dean of RCEM and how you can get involved. 

Ep 213 - Sensitivity and Specificity (CAN 10)

The latest CAN is one of our brand-new 'revision editions' -- brief podcasts aimed at covering the essentials of critical appraisal for medical students and junior doctors preparing for exams.

With the help of Gregory Yates, an academic doctor based in Manchester, this episode introduces two core concepts: sensitivity and specificity. These are two ways of thinking about the accuracy of a diagnostic test. Knowing the sensitivity and specificity of an investigation will give you a decent idea of how it should be used in the emergency department.

Sensitivity (Sn) describes the chance that a test will be positive if your patient has the condition you're testing for. Some people call it the 'true positive rate' or alternatively the positivity in disease (PID) rate. If you need a hand remembering it, you can always remember that PID is a sensitive issue.

 

Meanwhile, specificity (Sp) considers the chance of a test being negative if the patient doesn't have the condition you're testing for. It's the 'true negative rate' or alternatively the negativity in health (NIH) rate. There are times when we particularly need a test to have a high sensitivity. This is generally when we want to be particularly confident that a test accurately identifies everyone with the relevant condition because we really don't want to miss it. We need a high sensitivity to rule out disease. (Sn-uff it out). At other times, we need to be confident that a patient with a positive test actually has the disease - for example, if the treatment is unpleasant or involves exposing patients to risk. In that case, we want a high specificity to rule in disease. (Sp-in it in).

 

In this CAN, we use D-Dimer as an example of a very sensitive investigation: it’s positive in nearly 100% of cases of venous thromboembolism. Specificity describes the likelihood that the test will be negative if your patient does not have the disease. We use HbA1c as an example of a highly specific investigation: it’s rarely used in the emergency department, but if it’s elevated, we can be almost certain that the patient is diabetic. HbA1c is almost never (<1%) raised in non-diabetics.

The trouble is, many patients with a positive D-Dimer do not have a venous clot, and the majority of diabetics will have a normal HbA1c! No test is perfect, and we discuss how emergency physicians weigh up sensitivity and specificity when choosing which investigations are the best "fit" for clinical decision-making. By the end of this CAN, you will be ready to do the same -- in your exams, and on the shop floor.

 

Ep 217 - Weaning the wheezy child with David James at the PREMIER Conference

This is the first in a series of podcasts, recorded live at the Premier Conference in Winchester.

In this episode, David James challenges our current practice when we give a 'weaning plan' for children discharged with wheeze. 

There is a plan here that you can review and give to patients and their carers.

More information at these excellent websites

• PIER Network
• Southampton Oxford Retrieval Team
• Healthier Together

David James has been a PEM Consultant at University Hospital Southampton since 2018. His main interests are in training and education, adolescent emergency medicine and Quality Improvement. He is the Divisional Director of Medical Education and a Training advisor on the PEMISAC. He is the acute care lead for Wessex Healthier Together and has led several projects including those around acute wheeze at UHS and regionally. Outside of work he enjoys swimming, cycling and running and is extremely average at triathlons.

 

Ep 223 - July and August 2023 Monthly Round Up

After a long, hot and relaxing summer (!) Simon and Iain return with all the content from the St Emlyn's blog in July and August. They discuss four papers in detail, including the ARREST trial about cardiac arrest centres, whether clinical examination can identify life threatening injuries in trauma, the TOP-ART study looking at a novel agent in trauma management and the use of REBOA. 

Please do like and subscribe and get in touch if you would like to contribute to the blog site. 

Ep 224 - September 2023 Monthly Round Up - Top Ten Papers and more

An EBM-packed episode where Iain and Simon go over ten of the top papers from the last year discussing all manners of things Emergency Medicine, including TXA in trauma, use of video laryngoscopy, defibrillation strategies in refractory VF, and ten-second triage in major incidents. There's also a very pertinent discussion about whether the age of your Emergency Physician might affect your outcome...

Thank you again for listening to the St Emlyn's podcast. Please do like and subscribe and get in touch if there is anything you'd like us to discuss or if you'd like to get involved.