Episodes

The opioid epidemic gets a lot of attention, but methamphetamine use may actually affect more of our patients in the emergency department. Those of us who work in the ED are all too familiar with the agitated delirium that meth can cause, as well as the long term effects, like heart failure. In this episode, we hear one woman’s story of her experience with methamphetamines and how substance use nearly destroyed her life. Then our Toxicology colleagues, Dr. Kelly Owen and Dr. Dan Colby, walk us t...

In part 2 on workplace violence Brian describes when he was attacked at work and Dr. Aimee Moulin and Dr. Amy Barnhorst talk about how to cope with the threat of violence on a shift. What can we do? What do you do in your department to create a safe place? How do you protect yourself? Share your experience with us on social media, @empulsepodcast, or through our website, ucdavisem.com. ***Please rate us and leave us a review on iTunes! It helps us reach more people.*** Hosts: Dr. Julia Magaña, ...

Recently, we’ve explored how violence can affect our patients. Now, let’s how explore how we as emergency medicine providers are affected by violence in our own department. In part I of this two part series, we talk with UC Davis ED Charge Nurse and Assistant Nurse Manager, Brian Stroben, about workplace violence – what it is, how it affects us, and some things we can do to mitigate risk and keep our teams safe. Have you had a personal experience with workplace violence in your ED? Share your ex...

Do you have a similar program where you work, or are you interested in learning more about how to start one? Share your experiences and questions with us on social media, @empulsepodcast, or through our website, ucdavisem.com. ***Please rate us and leave us a review on iTunes! It helps us reach more people.*** Hosts: Dr. Julia Magaña, Associate Professor of Pediatric Emergency Medicine at UC Davis Guest: Dr. Terry Klassen, Professor, Pediatrics & Child Health, University of Manitoba Resources...

In the emergency department, we treat violently injured patients on nearly every shift. We can splint the broken bones, stitch up the cuts, and send seriously injured patients to the operating room with our surgical colleagues. We may be able to heal the physical wounds, but what about the emotional ones? And what happens to our patients when they go home to the same potentially unhealthy environments that led to the violent injury in the first place? The UC Davis Wraparound program addresses th...

***Trigger warning: this episode includes discussion of child abuse*** This is a follow up episode that dives deeper on why a bruised baby is worrisome, important aspects of a social history, and screening for abuse in the ED. Please listen to our first episode “It Could Have Been Different” for more! Have you used TEN-4 FACESp to identify potential non-accidental trauma? Share your experience with us via social media, @empulsepodcast, or through our website, ucdavisem.com. ***Please rate us a...

Trauma Informed Care 101 Trauma informed care has become quite the buzz word in medicine, and especially in emergency medicine. But what does it mean? Why should you care? How can you use it on a shift? We’ll address these questions and more with experts, Dr. Angela Jarman, Dr. Bryn Mumma, and our own Dr. Julia Magaña. What is a way you incorporate trauma informed care into your practice? Share your experience with us via social media, @empulsepodcast, or through our website, ucdavisem.com. *...

Our first EM Pulse podcast called “Pot Tarts” was on marijuana legalization in California and ingestion in kids. In this episode we circle back to THC in kids with Dr. James Chenoweth on a an update of what has happened since legalizations. Have you seen an uptick in THC ingestions in children since legalization? Share your ideas and experiences with us on social media, @empulsepodcast, or through our website, ucdavisem.com. ***Please rate us and leave us a review on iTunes! It helps us reach m...

***Trigger warning: this episode includes discussion of child abuse*** As emergency physicians, we are uniquely positioned to identify and address child abuse, or non-accidental trauma (NAT). It’s a challenging part of our job, but our vigilance can save a child’s life. Signs of abuse can often be subtle, but there are some very specific findings that should make us consider NAT. In this episode, we talk with expert, Dr. Mary Clyde Pierce, about her recently published paper, coauthored by our o...

Happy spring, everyone! This Heartbeat is all about joy and community, so come along with me to Macedonia Baptist Church in Sacramento, California, where community leaders, Pastor Jeffrey Johnson and Derrell Roberts, teamed up with Dr. Kevin Mackey, Medical Director for Sacramento Regional Fire, and UC Davis Emergency Medicine providers to offer COVID vaccinations to the local community. Equitable vaccine distribution is an ongoing concern across the US and, according to a recent CDC report (lin...

Last month, Dr. Josh Elder spoke with us about how UC Davis Express Care allows patients to see a doctor via virtual urgent care visits. In this episode, we explore a different side of telemedicine: teleconsults. Dr. Jim Marcin is Director of the UC Davis Center for Health and a pioneer in telemedicine. As a Pediatric Critical Care Physician, Dr. Marcin has been facilitating teleconsults for physicians at rural hospitals to help provide the expertise needed for care for critically ill children. ...

“He came in by ambulance short of breath…” This is how Dr. Taylor Nichols’ tweet thread began. It’s a line many of us could have written – typical of an encounter in the COVID era. But the thread goes on to tell a more complicated story about racism, a physicians duty, and the toll this pandemic has had on many frontline healthcare providers. Dr. Nichols shares his story with us, along with the aftermath of his viral tweet, and his reflections three months on. Share your thoughts and reactions t...

In our recent episode in the future of emergency medicine, several of our guests pointed to technological advances, including telemedicine, as key pieces in the evolution of our specialty. And, thanks in large part to the pandemic, the development and implementation of telemedicine has accelerated over the past year. In this episode, Dr. Josh Elder, Medical Director of Express Care at UC Davis, shares his experience creating a virtual urgent care. We discuss some of the advantages and disadvanta...

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced us all to become more comfortable with virtual engagement. From faculty and group meetings to conferences to kids’ school to social events – it seems everything is online these days. And while we may finally be getting used to this after many months, most of us still have a lot to learn in terms of how to best present ourselves in the virtual space. We’ll discuss our favorite tips and tricks, as well as some audiovisual equipment that can help you look and sound ...

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all of us, and with vaccines starting to roll out, I think we’re all looking forward to getting past it. But some people who have had COVID-19, getting past it hasn’t been easy. In this Heartbeat, we talk with infectious disease expert, Dr. Larissa May, about “Long haul COVID”, or “Long COVID” – a syndrome that affects about 10% of people who have had COVID-19. Have you had long-haul COVID? We’d like to know how it affected you and what you’ve don’t to get thro...

It’s 2021, and we couldn’t be happier to leave 2020 behind and start a new year. In the past few months, we’ve talked about the past and present of emergency medicine. In this episode, we’ll explore the future. We welcome back some of our specialty’s visionary leaders, Dr. Aimee Moulin, Dr. Gillian Schmitz, Dr. Cherri Hobgood, and Dr. J Adrian Tyndall, to discuss what’s ahead for EM. How has the pandemic changed things? What role will technology play? What should healthcare and insurance look li...

I think we can all agree that this has been a long year. For those of us working in the emergency department, the stress of treating patients with COVID-19, while trying to keep our families and ourselves safe, has been overwhelming at times. But there is finally a light at the end of this tunnel – in the form of vaccines! Infectious disease specialist, Dr. Dean Blumberg, talks with us about how the coronavirus vaccines work, and answers questions about their safety, the approval process, side e...

Open notes or the 21st Century Cures ACT introduces a brave new world of sharing the whole medical record immediately with our patients. In this episode we discuss with an informatics specialist what this mandate is, what the exceptions are, and why this can be good for us and our patients. Let us know how Open Notes is going for you and your tips for other note writers. Follow us on social media, @empulsepodcast, or through our website, ucdavisem.com. ***Please rate us and leave us a review o...

In our September episode, The Alexandria Plan, we journeyed back through the fascinating history of Emergency Medicine with some of the founders of our specialty. This month’s episode follows on, exploring the present state of EM. We talk with current leaders and visionaries, Dr. Aimee Moulin, Dr. Gillian Schmitz, Dr. Cherri Hobgood, and Dr. J Adrian Tyndall, about the role of EM and how the COVID-19 pandemic has changed us. We then delve into some of the major issues facing our specialty, and w...

This is the fascinating story of Dr. Rory Stuart the Bronze Star recipient for his fight against COVID in Afghanistan. He shares what it was like to be blindsided by COVID in the Middle East and the lessons we can apply stateside. Follow us on social media, @empulsepodcast, or through our website, ucdavisem.com. ***Please rate us and leave us a review on iTunes! It helps us reach more people.*** Host: Dr. Julia Magaña, Assistant Professor of Pediatric Emergency Medicine at UC Davis Guest: Dr....

The November 2020 election is right around the corner, and yet many Americans still aren’t registered to vote. Voting is not always a priority when people are struggling to meet their basic needs, yet the voices of people in underrepresented groups are essential to shaping policy that benefits everyone. We talk with Dr. Katren Tyler about VotER, a program started at Massachusetts General Hospital that helps ED physicians encourage interested patients to register, and provides easy ways to help t...

A new PECARN study found just a single episode of moderate-severe DKA impacts cognition! This game changing article challenges what we thought about glucose and the brain and really makes a case for aggressive DKA treatment and glucose control! Let us know what you think @empulsepodcast, or through our website, ucdavisem.com. ***Please rate us and leave us a review on iTunes! It helps us reach more people.*** Host: Dr. Julia Magaña, Assistant Professor of Pediatric Emergency Medicine at UC Dav...

Ever wondered how the specialty of Emergency Medicine came about? We take it for granted that we have emergency departments staffed 24/7 with board certified EM physicians, but this wasn’t always the case. Join us for a trip down memory lane, with the help of Dr. Brian Zink. Dr. Zink collected stories and audio recordings from some of the founders of our specialty. He shares several of these with us to give us a feel for what it was like in those early days. What did you think of this episode? W...

It’s that time of year again – residency recruiting season! But this year, things will look very different, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. We talk with Dr. David Barnes, Emergency Medicine Residency Program Director at UC Davis, about some of the challenges for both applicants and residency leadership. He also offers some sound advice for students applying in EM – most importantly, be yourself and be flexible; this format is new to everyone. Do you have questions or concerns about the residenc...