No, you haven't lost a contact lens in your brain - it's just way up there and Michelle Lin will tell you how to find it and take it out. Then, think the best medical information is in textbooks? Well it's more up to date on the internet, you just have to slog through the crap. Michelle, Bryan, Theresa, and Brent discuss how to find useful information on the web that's better than textbooks.
Jennifer M. - March 9, 2014 8:13 PM
Great session!! In regards to staining eyes if patient has lost a soft contact lens, can you place tetracaine in the eye, although pt may have a contact lens in the eye, in order to moisten the fluorescein swab? I usually moisten them with an optical anesthetic before placing the swab on the eye lid.
in regards to the blogs/podcasts, etc. i really appreciate the advice on following blogs and podcasts. I am not very technological savvy. Sometimes during a shift, a patient will come in with something discussed on emrap, emcrit, ercast, etc. I will recall hearing it in a podcast and say want to look up the notes quickly from the podcast, but I may not recall the month of emrap it was on or which podcasts it was on. Any hints on how to quickly find the show notes for a particular topic quickly esp if you want to look up dosages discussed on the episode? In the heat of the shift, where do you find the show notes quickly if you know its on a podcast, but unsure which podcast or if you know which podcasts, but are unsure which month its on? Thank you!
Kevin G. - March 12, 2014 3:05 PM
the search function top right works for me
BW - March 14, 2014 1:47 PM
Use GoogleFOAM engine to search for the content on different podcasts and blogs. The main ones are there in the search database.
Sean G., M.D. - March 31, 2014 11:01 AM
Jennifer M use the search engine. Sometimes u need to be a bit general but it usually works. Most of the different podcasts have these certainly emrap and the emrap cc do.
Michelle Lin, MD - May 5, 2014 11:31 PM
@JenniferM: Yup - you can instill tetracaine. Just be aware that that contact lens is toast. No longer usable afterward, especially after the permanent fluoroscein staining.
Chad J. R. - July 11, 2014 2:49 PM
Just listened to this month and thanks for the discussion on FOAM. I could not help but feel like we may be barking up the wrong analogy: I do not think of FOAM, especially podcasts, as analogous to anything peer reviewed. The analogy I would make is to that of bedside or other clinical teaching and not to peer reviewed sources at all. When I have a 20 minutes discussion with the intensivist about vent settings and management for a severely acidotic DKA patient, for example, I do not demand he produce any reference at all--and may incorporate multiple pearls into my practice. We all do this for 100 times per week, especially in training. I do not check the background or evidenced based rigor of that practitioner but I sure know the background of all of those I have chosen to be my FOAM based role models. When I am listening to SW discuss intubation of the acidotic patient on a podcast it feels just like having that discussion with an intensivist at my own shop. We have to trust ourselves, as life long learners, to be able to thoughtfully sift through the barrage of data/facts/opinions regardless of the source. I am so thankful for FOAM and to have world class clinicians influencing my career in a constant and daily way never before possible.