Welcome back and happy new year! If you are an EM or peds provider you likely know the name PECARN (Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network). This powerhouse was the first federally funded pediatric emergency medicine research network in the US and generates quality studies like nobody’s business. We have reviewed three landmark PECARN studies: Hot off the Press infant fever rule, DKA it’s not about the fluids, A Cool Tool. And in the next few months we will discuss seizure management ...
Jan 03, 2020•19 min
Global health can be an amazing adventure or an unsettling disappointment. We can make a big difference in the lives of people around the world or drain local resources and have a feel good vacation. In this episode we hear meaningful international impact stories and from global health experts on how we can make a meaningful impact as well. Have you worked internationally? Send us your story – it might even be featured in our global health mini series! Connect with us on social media at @empulse...
Dec 18, 2019•32 min
Last month we explored leveraging tech for life long learning. In this heartbeat we discuss tech as a teaching tool with Dr. Emily Andrada, an amazing teacher who has mastered using technology for teaching. Hear about the ups and downs of using technology for education, Emily’s favorite tools, and a new resource available on www.ucdavisem.com – Unschooling Time . What is your favorite tech teaching tool? How do you leverage tech as a teacher? Let’s continue the conversation on social media @empu...
Dec 04, 2019•14 min
The amount of information we are expected to learn in medical school, residency, and beyond can be overwhelming – like drinking from a firehose! In this episode, we explore some ways in which physicians can leverage technology to help manage all of this information and facilitate life long learning. Several residents and attendings discuss what works for them, including using apps and online resources, and listening to podcasts. We then talk with Dr. Ryan Ribeira and Dr. Adam Dougherty of SimX a...
Nov 18, 2019•43 min
In this heartbeat we do something a little different. We discuss the story behind EM Pulse and three lessons we learned in our creative pursuit. These three lessons can be applied to other creative pursuits as well. We would love to hear how you express your passion and what you have learned as well! Let’s continue the conversation on social media @empulsepodcast or at ucdavisem.com . Please subscribe and rate us on iTunes – it helps us reach more people! Hosts: Dr. Julia Magaña , Assistant Prof...
Nov 04, 2019•11 min
We are in the midst of a mental health crisis that impacts our patients, our hospitals, the health care system, and our daily work in the emergency department. It is easy to be caught up in own experience, or the problems of our own department. But when we look beyond our hospital, we see that this is a huge crisis at county, state, and national levels. To help us understand why we are in this situation, and how we can work to improve things, we spoke with UC Davis’ Director of Emergency Psychia...
Oct 18, 2019•42 min
High sensitivity troponins are taking over the nation are you ready? Dr. Bryn Mumma is ready and in this heartbeat she shares what we need to know to be ready! Are you using high sensitivity troponins? How is it going? Let’s continue the conversation on social media @empulsepodcast or at ucdavisem.com . Please subscribe and rate us on iTunes – it helps us reach more people! Host: Dr. Julia Magaña , Assistant Professor of Pediatric Emergency Medicine at UC Davis Guest: Dr. Bryn Mumma (bemumma@ucd...
Oct 03, 2019•12 min
There is an epidemic of poverty in America, and we see it firsthand in the ED. Dr. Donna Beegle has dedicated her life to studying this epidemic, and training others to help break the cycle of poverty. She shares her own personal story of growing up in generational poverty, then helps us understand the scope of poverty in the U.S., and how it affects health. UC Davis Emergency Medicine NP, Danise Seaters, joins us to discuss some strategies for medical providers to help recognize patients who ma...
Sep 17, 2019•30 min
Physician wellness is not JUST about going to a yoga class or two. In this episode we explore physician wellness from the perspective of the EM Chair of Stanford University. On the personal level we should jump in and check on each other, help each other out! Make sure your leadership knows physician wellness is crucial to providing care 24/7/365. Let’s continue the conversation on social media @empulsepodcast or at ucdavisem.com . Please subscribe and rate us on iTunes – it helps us reach more ...
Sep 04, 2019•14 min
In Emergency Medicine, we are all too familiar with death and dying, but how equipped are we really to provide compassionate end of life care? Dr. Conor Mcwade shares his experience caring for a patient with end stage cancer, and the challenges of respecting the patient’s wishes, even when the family wanted to pursue aggressive measures. Then, palliative care trained physicians, Dr. Rupi Chima and Dr. Cherie Ginwalla, help define some terms and offer advice on how to best care for our dying pati...
Aug 18, 2019•47 min
What is military emergency medicine all about? Many of us know physicians who are in the US Armed Forces, but few of us really know what that really entails. Dr. Rod Fontenette is an Emergency Medicine and Critical Care Physician at UC Davis and a Lieutenant Colonel in the US Air Force. He joins us to talk about Military EM, including training, emergency and critical care on the front lines (and at 30,000 feet!), and some of the challenges and rewards of choosing this career path. We have so muc...
Aug 04, 2019•19 min
Hafa adai! Or “Hello” in Chamorro , the native language of Guam . I just got back from the US territory of Guam and loved working in such a beautiful place with it’s own set of unique challenges. We spoke with local emergency medicine physician Gabriel David to hear about practicing in an isolated island where many can’t or don’t seek medical care until really ill, and start chewing betel nut at 7-8 years old. What atypical places have you practiced in? Share your experiences with us on social m...
Jul 18, 2019•16 min
If you work in Emergency Medicine, you know that social and environmental factors greatly impact our patients’ health. This may not be a novel concept, but it is a relatively new field of study. Social Emergency Medicine is a growing branch of EM focused on identifying and studying how social factors affect health. We are especially interested in this topic as many of our episodes explore social issues, such as housing instability, substance use, firearm violence, and human trafficking. In this ...
Jul 04, 2019•12 min
How do we teach our medical students and residents to be doctors? Surprisingly, there is no agreed upon, standard approach. Dr. Aaron Danielson, fellowship trained medical educator at UC Davis, takes us through some of the common strategies that medical schools employ. He explains that, although many aspects of medical education have evolved over the past several decades, some things haven’t changed in the over one hundred years since the “Flexner Report”. Dr. Mike Gisondi, Vice Chair of Educati...
Jun 18, 2019•37 min
What’s the craziest place you’ve ever worked? Few of us can top Dr. John Rose’s answer: the South Pole! John worked as the physician at Amundsen-Scott Station in Antarctica for four months during the austral summer of 2018-19. Taking care of a large crew of scientists and visitors in -70 degree weather at over 10,000 ft elevation is no easy feat! John tells us about his deployment, some of the common cases he saw, and the challenges of austere medicine. Do you have a question for Dr. Rose? Or wa...
Jun 04, 2019•18 min
Dr. Matt Wetschler’s story represents the best and the worst of our healthcare system. Matt tells us about his near fatal injury, his miraculous recovery (thanks to modern medicine), and the complications with billing that plagued him for months after his accident. Matt’s story is one of several in the recent media highlighting the issue of “surprise billing”, and a subset of this issue referred to as “balance billing”. Drawing from his health policy background, Matt helps us understand balance ...
May 17, 2019•32 min
Measles is a hot topic from your latest shift to the news measles is on everyone’s mind! Fortunately, Dr. Dean Blumberg an infectious disease physician and fellow podcast host walks us through the basics of measles from the standpoint of the emergency department. Which patients do you screen for measles? Have you seen any confirmed cases? Share your thoughts with us on social media, @empulsepodcast , or online at ucdavisem.com/em-pulse . Please subscribe and leave us a review on iTunes ! It help...
May 04, 2019•17 min
In our January episode, #thisisourlane , we spoke with Dr. Garen Wintemute about firearm violence, and discussed the immediate and passionate social media outpouring from physicians in response to an NRA tweet. In this episode, we dive deeper into the topic of physician advocacy, and, more specifically, the role of social media in advocacy. Our guest, Dr. Megan Ranney , is an emergency medicine physician, educator, and digital health and public health researcher, and is an avid social media user...
Apr 18, 2019•36 min
What is it like to be an Emergency Physician in the ED during a mass shooting? Dr. Austin Johnson was a senior resident at the University of Colorado Hospital on the night a gunman opened fire in a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado. He shares his firsthand experience as a physician in the ED that night, and discusses the effects of the event on providers, and how the experience has shaped his practice. Have you been a provider during a mass casualty event? How has the experience affected you? Sh...
Apr 03, 2019•10 min
EM Pulse Live Edition: WR SAEM Day 2 Wrap-up It was another exciting day at the Western Regional SAEM conference in Napa, CA! This episode recaps Day 2, including the Western EM Challenge and some fantastic plenary speakers. Highlights include time management for EM physicians, social emergency medicine, care for LGBTQI patients, the future of medical education, exercise in medicine, and building your social media brand. The conference is trending of social media – follow #WRSAEM19 , @wrsaem19 ,...
Mar 23, 2019•34 min
This is a first for us! We’re podcasting live (or nearly live) from the 2019 Western Regional Society for Academic Emergency Medicine Annual Meeting in Napa, California. In this episode, we re-cap Day 1 of the conference, featuring the Advanced Airway Lab with Dr. Erik Laurin, Wellness in Academic EM with Dr. Andra Blomkalns, Experience in a Mass Shooting with Dr. Austin Johnson, The Value of Scholarship with Dr. Steve Bird, and much, much more! The conference is trending of social media – follo...
Mar 22, 2019•25 min
Heartbeat: The Mind of an Airway Enthusiast We sit down with EM legend and airway guru, Dr. Rich Levitan. Dr. Levitan is a self-proclaimed airway enthusiast who has published extensively on laryngoscopes and airway management. He currently works clinically, mainly in rural, critical care access hospitals, and travels the country and the globe speaking and teaching courses on airway management. So how does Dr. Levitan approach the “difficult airway”? It starts with mindset. Send us your questions...
Mar 04, 2019•14 min
“Hot” Off the Press: Infant Fever Rule – Episode 15 Talking about neonatal fever makes most people hot under the collar! Fortunately, PECARN is on the case. Their latest paper was just published TODAY in JAMA Peds: A Clinical Prediction Rule to Identify Febrile Infants 60 Days and Younger at Low Risk for Serious Bacterial Infections . In this month’s episode, we learn about some the challenges of having a febrile infant – from a mom’s perspective. Then we discuss when, why, and how to apply the ...
Feb 18, 2019•34 min
Treat others not as you want to be treated but as they want to be treated. Mai Lee, RN and Dan Colby join us to share some stories and talk about how culture can impact our care in the ED and what we can do about it. Let’s continue the conversation on social media @empulsepodcast or at ucdavisem.com . Host: Dr. Julia Magaña , Assistant Professor of Pediatric Emergency Medicine at UC Davis Guest: Dr. Daniel Colby , Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine UC Davis Guest: Mai Lee, RN, UC Davis Em...
Feb 04, 2019•9 min
#Thisismylane– Episode 14 If you work in the ED, you’ve likely seen your fair share of victims of gun violence. Though mass shootings have brought this issue into the public eye, firearm violence has been a public issue in our country for decades. In this episode, you’ll hear some powerful stories from providers about their experiences with people killed and injured by firearms. Then, we talk with researcher and expert, Dr. Garen Wintemute, about trends he’s seen, and discuss how we, as physicia...
Jan 18, 2019•44 min
Bonus Episode: 2018 in Review Happy New Year! 2018 was a big year for us, thanks to all of you! Here we are, almost 365 days since publishing our first episode, so let’s take a moment to reflect on our first year. We’re closing in on 30,000 downloads and have listeners in all 50 states, 2 territories, and 94 countries. We’ve been featured by several local news outlets, and one of our favorite EM blogs, lifeinthefastlane.com . And we even won an eHealthcare Leadership award! Wow. We are so gratef...
Jan 04, 2019•26 min
Last Stand in Santa Rosa Imagine you’re working a shift in the Emergency Department when a fast moving wildfire hits. What would you do if you found out your home was burning? Or your family was in danger? And how do you react when the Fire Department tells you they are making a last stand a block away from your hospital? This situation is all too real for many physicians and providers affected by devastating wildfires in California. In this episode, we follow the story of the 2017 Santa Rosa fi...
Dec 18, 2018•47 min
Camp Fire medicine What are the medical needs when your WHOLE town burns down? What is it like to walk into a shelter with over a thousand friends and family still missing? What if the evacuees you are caring for are your neighbors? The California wildfires have been huge part of our personal and professional lives at UC Davis. In this Heartbeat we spoke with an EM resident who volunteered at a shelter in Chico, CA. Dr. Molly Hallweaver discusses what she saw, treated, and learned taking care of...
Dec 04, 2018•11 min
Caring for kids in the ED can be challenging – they often can’t (or won’t) tell you what’s wrong or where it hurts; they may have trouble sitting still during an exam or procedure; and their screams put everyone on edge. But let’s think about it from their perspective. It must be pretty confusing and frightening at times. Did you ever have to go to the ED as a kid? Do you remember what it was like? We ask some kids to share their thoughts and experiences. Then we get some valuable tips from the ...
Nov 17, 2018•39 min
Heartbeat: The Price of Beauty As Emergency Physicians, we pride ourselves on recognizing and treating life-threatening conditions. But what if we’re missing important diagnoses and we don’t even know it? In this Heartbeat, we explore acute and chronic silicone syndromes, two potentially serious conditions caused by injecting liquid silicone into the body. Dr. Nick Gorton, previously featured on Episode 8: Don’t be a Jerk! and the LGBTQI, MD Heartbeat, joins us again with advice on how to diagno...
Nov 04, 2018•11 min
