Episodes

Oct. 1, 2022

SGEM#378: Keepin’ It REaL when Treating Pediatric Migraine Patients

Date: September 28th, 2022 Reference: Hartford et al. Disparities in the emergency department management of pediatric migraine by race, ethnicity, and language preference. AEM September 2022. Guest Skeptic: Dr. Lauren Westafer is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School – Baystate. She is the cofounder of FOAMcast and is a pulmonary embolism and implementation science researcher. Case: A 15-year-old patient presents to the E...
Sept. 24, 2022

SGEM#377: You Don’t Have to “AcT” that Way – TNK for Acute Ischemic Stroke?

Date: September 20th, 2022 Reference: Menon et al. Intravenous tenecteplase compared with alteplase for acute ischaemic stroke in Canada (AcT): a pragmatic, multicentre, open-label, registry-linked, randomised, controlled, non-inferiority trial. The Lancet 2022 Guest Skeptic: Professor Daniel Fatovich is an emergency physician and clinical researcher based at Royal Perth Hospital, Western Australia. He is Head of the Centre for Clinical Research in Emergency Medicine, Harry Perkins Institute of ...
Sept. 17, 2022

SGEM#376: I Wonder Why She Ran Away from the HINTS Exam

Date: September 16th, 2022 Reference: Gerlier C, et al. Differentiating central from peripheral causes of acute vertigo in an emergency setting with the HINTS, STANDING and ABCD2 tests: A diagnostic cohort study. AEM 2021 Guest Skeptic: Dr. Peter Johns has been practicing emergency medicine since 1985 and has been passionate about vertigo education for the last two decades. He co-authored the Vertigo chapter in the current edition of Tintinalli’s emergency medicine textbook and has a YouTube cha...
Sept. 10, 2022

SGEM#375: Only One versus Two-Dose Dexamethasone for Mild to Moderate Pediatric Asthma Exacerbations

Date: August 25th, 2022 Reference: Martin et al. Single-dose dexamethasone is not inferior to 2 doses in mild to moderate pediatric asthma exacerbations in the emergency department. Pediatr Emerg Care. 2022 Dr. Harrison Hayward Guest Skeptic: Dr. Harrison Hayward is a Pediatric Emergency Medicine fellow at Children’s National Hospital. He finished his General Pediatrics residency at Yale-New Haven Hospital. As an editor and writer of continuing medical education material for the clinical case-sh...
Sept. 4, 2022

SGEM Xtra: A Hero Is Rising – Season#8 Book

Date: September 3rd, 2022 Reference: Milne WK, Carpenter CR and Young T. A Hero Is Rising – Season#8 Book Dr. Tayler Young Guest Skeptic: Dr. Tayler Young is a first year Family Medicine resident at Queen’s University. Her interests are quality improvement and Free Open Access to Medical Education (FOAMed). This is an SGEM Xtra to announce Season#8 has now been summarized into a free PDF book. The SGEM provided the content, and Tayler designed the book. She has experience designing infographics ...
Aug. 27, 2022

SGEM#374: Bad Habits – Medications for Opioid Use Disorder in the Emergency Department

Date: August 23rd, 2022 Reference: Schoenfeld et al. “Just give them a choice”: Patients’ perspectives regarding starting medications for opioid use disorder in the ED. AEM August 2022 Guest Skeptic: Dr. Chris Bond is an emergency medicine physician and assistant Professor at the University of Calgary. He is also an avid FOAM supporter/producer through various online outlets including TheSGEM. Case: A 24-year-old male presents to the emergency department (ED) after a fentanyl overdose. He is suc...
Aug. 20, 2022

SGEM Xtra: Are tPA Stroke Trials Really Fragile?

Date: August 18th, 2022 Reference: Munn et al. Fragility Index Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials Shows Highly Robust Evidential Strength for Benefit of <3 Hour Intravenous Alteplase. Stroke 2022 Dr. Jeff Saver Guest: Dr. Jeff Saver is a Professor and SA Vice Chair for Clinical Research, Carol and James Collins Chair, Department of Neurology, Director of the UCLA Comprehensive Stroke and Vascular Neurology Program at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. This is an SGEM Xtra. J...
Aug. 7, 2022

SGEM Xtra: The SGEM Goes to Eleven – for Kids

Date: August 7th, 2022 Dr. Dennis Ren Host Skeptic: Dr. Dennis Ren is a pediatric emergency medicine attending at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, DC. You might remember him from the SGEM episodes on febrile infants, aseptic meningitis, and community acquired pneumonia. This is an SGEM Xtra episode. Season 10 is coming to an end. We want to thank all our listeners and skeptics who have tuned in for ten years. We have ~67,000 subscribers and the SGEM has been translated into four other...
July 30, 2022

SGEM#373: Going Ultrasound for Small Bowel Obstructions

Date: July 28th, 2022 Reference: Brower et al. Point-of-Care Ultrasound-First for the Evaluation of Small Bowel Obstruction: National Cost Savings, Length of Stay Reduction, and Preventable Radiation Exposure. AEM July 2022 Guest Skeptic: Dr. Kirsty Challen is a Consultant in Emergency Medicine at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals. She is also the creator of all those wonderful Paper in a Pictures. Case: A 63-year-old woman presents to your emergency department (ED) with two-day history of nausea, v...
July 23, 2022

SGEM#372: Use the FORCE for Buckle Wrist Fractures in Children

Date: July 22nd, 2022 Reference: Perry et al. Immobilisation of torus fractures of the wrist in children (FORCE): a randomised controlled equivalence trial in the UK. The Lancet 2022 Guest Skeptic: Dr. Tessa Davis is a Paediatric Emergency Consultant at the Royal London Hospital, Senior Lecturer at Queen Mary University of London, Co-founder of Don’t Forget The Bubbles (DFTB). Tessa also has a weekly newsletter with tips to help you level up your use of everyday technology and to optimise your w...
July 16, 2022

SGEM#371: All My LOVIT, Vitamin C Won’t Work for You

Date: July 16th, 2022 Reference: Lamontagne F et al. Intravenous Vitamin C in Adults with Sepsis in the Intensive Care Unit. NEJM 2022. Guest Skeptic: Dr. Salim R. Rezaie completed his medical school training at Texas A&M Health Science Center and continued his medical education with a combined Emergency Medicine/Internal Medicine residency at East Carolina University. Currently, Salim works as a community emergency physician at Greater San Antonio Emergency Physicians (GSEP), where he is the di...
July 9, 2022

SGEM Xtra: Here Comes the NINDS Again

Date: July 1st, 2022 Guest Skeptic: Dr. Ravi Garg is a Neurologist in the Department of Neurology, Division of Neurocritical Care at Loyola University Chicago. Reference: Garg R, Mickenautsch S. Risk of selection bias assessment in the NINDS rt-PA stroke study. BMC Med Res Methodol. 2022 Jun 15;22(1):172. This is an SGEM Xtra episode. Dr. Garg saw some tweets about the NINDS trial and sent me his recent publication. I asked him to come on the SGEM and discuss the original NINDS trial, some of th...
July 2, 2022

SGEM#370: Listen to your Heart (Score)…MACE Incidence in Non-Low Risk Patients with known Coronary Artery Disease

Date: June 30th, 2022 Reference: McGinnis et al. Major adverse cardiac event rates in moderate-risk patients: Does prior coronary disease matter? AEM June 2022. Guest Skeptic: Dr. Corey Heitz is an emergency physician in Roanoke, Virginia. He is also the CME editor for Academic Emergency Medicine. Case: You are working a shift in your local community emergency department (ED) when a 47-year-old male presents with chest pain. His symptoms are moderately suspicious, he has a normal EKG, and a hist...
June 18, 2022

SGEM#369: Romeo is Bleeding – Does He Need a RePHILL?

Date: June 18th, 2022 Reference: Crombie et al. Resuscitation with blood products in patients with trauma-related haemorrhagic shock receiving prehospital care (RePHILL): a multicentre, open-label, randomised, controlled, phase 3 trial. The Lancet Haematology 2022 Guest Skeptic: Dr. Casey Parker is a Rural Generalist that includes in his practice emergency medicine, anaesthesia and critical care. He is also now a fully fledged "sonologist". Casey currently splits his time between Broome, a small...
June 12, 2022

SGEM#368: Just A Normal Saline Day in the ICU – The PLUS Study

Date: June 12th, 2022 Reference: Finfer et al. Balanced Multielectrolyte Solution versus Saline in Critically Ill Adults. NEJM 2022. Guest Skeptic: Dr. Aaron Skolnik is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at the Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine and Consultant in the Department of Critical Care Medicine at Mayo Clinic Arizona. He is board certified in Emergency Medicine, Medical Toxicology, Addiction Medicine, Internal Medicine-Critical Care, and Neurocritical Care. Aaron is a full-ti...
May 28, 2022

SGEM#367: GRACE2 – Low-Risk, Recurrent Abdominal Pain

Date: May 24th, 2022 Reference: Broder et al. Guidelines for Reasonable and Appropriate Care in the Emergency Department (GRACE) 2: Low-Risk, Recurrent Abdominal Pain in the Emergency Department. AEM May 2022 Guest Skeptic: Dr. Justin Morgenstern is an emergency physician and the creator of the #FOAMed project called First10EM.com Case: A 33-year-old male presents to the emergency department (ED) complaining of abdominal pain. He states he has had the same pain for more than 10 years, and no one...
May 14, 2022

SGEM#366: Relax, Don’t Do It – Skeletal Muscle Relaxants for Low Back Pain

Date: May 13th, 2022 Reference: Abril et al. The Relative Efficacy of Seven Skeletal Muscle Relaxants. An Analysis of Data From Randomized Studies. J Emerg Med 2022 Guest Skeptic: Dr. Sergey Motov is an Emergency Physician in the Department of Emergency Medicine, Maimonides Medical Center in New York City. He is also one of the world’s leading researchers on pain management in the emergency department and specifically the use of ketamine. His twitter handle is @PainFreeED. Case: A 45-year-old ma...
April 23, 2022

SGEM Xtra: She Blinded Me with Science Communication

Date: April 19th, 2022 Guest Skeptic: Sarah Mojarad is a Lecturer in Advanced Writing, #SciComm, & Mis/disinfo topics • Kavli Fellow • Reed Awardee. Sarah Mojarad This is an SGEM Xtra episode. When planning a brief trip to Los Angeles for the EMRAP One Conference, I remembered that Sarah is from LA. I thought to myself, perhaps she would come on the SGEM as a special guest. I'm happy to say Sarah graciously accepted the invitation. We recorded the episode sitting outside on the patio at the Lusk...
April 16, 2022

SGEM#365: Stop! It’s Not Always Hammer Time

Date: April 16th, 2022 Reference: Blom et al. Common elective orthopaedic procedures and their clinical effectiveness: umbrella review of level 1 evidence. BMJ 2021 Guest Skeptic: Dr. Matt Schmitz, Pediatric Orthopedics, Adolescent Sports Medicine and Young Adult Hip Preservation Surgeon at San Antonio Military Medical Center in Texas. Disclaimer: The views and opinions of this blog and podcast do not represent the United States Government or the US Military. Case: A 55-year-old man comes into t...
April 9, 2022

SGEM#364: Don’t You Forget About Me – DW:MRI Sensitivity for Transient Global Amnesia

Date: April 7th, 2022 Reference: Wong et al. Sensitivity of diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging in transient global amnesia as a function of time from symptom onset. AEM April 2022 Guest Skeptic: Dr. Chris Bond is an emergency medicine physician and assistant Professor at the University of Calgary. Case: A 65-year-old man presents to your emergency department with his wife. She tells you that he woke up normally this morning, but after breakfast he began asking the same questions repet...
April 2, 2022

SGEM#363: View Master – Virtual Reality Immersion Tool to Reduce Pediatric Anxiety

Date: March 31st, 2022 Reference: Butt et al. Take-Pause: Efficacy of mindfulness-based virtual reality as an intervention in the pediatric emergency department. AEM March 2022 Guest Skeptic: Dr. Lauren Westafer is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School – Baystate. She is the cofounder of FOAMcast and is a pulmonary embolism and implementation science researcher. Lauren won the 2021 SAEM FOAMed Excellence in Education Awar...
March 26, 2022

SGEM Xtra: Float Away, Float Away, Float Away – from Misinformation

Date: March 26th, 2022 Guest Skeptic: Professor Melanie Trecek-King Associate professor of biology at Massasoit Community College in Massachusetts. Founder and creator of Thinking Is Power. Reference: Trecek-King M.A Life Preserver for Staying Afloat in a Sea of Misinformation. Skeptical Inquirer March/April 2022 Prof Trecek-King This is an SGEM Xtra episode. I met Melanie through our online interactions on Twitter. She posts excellent tweets about critical thinking. I then discovered her amazin...
March 12, 2022

SGEM#362: Screen Time – Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You – But Should I Post-Concussion?

Date: March 3rd, 2022 Reference: Macnow et al. Effect of Screen Time on Recovery From Concussion: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Pediatrics 2021 Guest Skeptic: Dr. Catherine Varner is an Assistant Professor and Clinician Investigator in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto. She is an emergency physician at Mount Sinai Hospital and a Clinician Scientist and the Deputy Director of the Schwartz-Reisman Emergency Medicine Institute. Dr. Varner's research in...
March 5, 2022

SGEM#361: Under My Umbrella, Ella, Ella – Review of Meta-Analyses in Emergency Medicine

Date: February 24th, 2022 Reference: Parish et al. An umbrella review of effect size, bias, and power across meta-analyses in emergency medicine. AEM 2021 Guest Skeptic: Professor Daniel Fatovich is an emergency physician and clinical researcher based at Royal Perth Hospital, Western Australia. He is Head of the Centre for Clinical Research in Emergency Medicine, Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research; Professor of Emergency Medicine, University of Western Australia; and Director of Researc...