Pericardiocentesis is a rarely performed, but potentially life-saving procedure. Commerical models are prohibitively expensive, but students and residents (and critical care fellows) still need to learn the mechanics, ideally with an ultrasound compatibile model. This week's post gives a step by step guide towards making a cheap, easy to fabricate phantom based on this fantastic paper published in the Journal of Emergency Medicne 2012: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21925818

Modern immunizations in conjunction with better CT imaging has likely led to declining need for lumbar puncture in the emergency department to evaluate for meningitis and subarachnoid hemorrhage. This may contribute to physician discomfort with the procedure and lower likelihood of first attempt success. This study evaluated whether the addition of ultrasound guidance could increase first attempt success on infant lumbar puncture in the Emergency Department.

This post is a a summary of a portion of Dr Byrne's airway talk from last month's ResusEM conference at the Cooper Medical School of Rowan University. New techniques for preoxygenation before intubation can help to prolong time to desaturation and make this potentially dangerous procedure safer than ever!

Anatomic landmarks followed by a "blind" stick is currently the standard practice for performing bedside lumbar punctures, but with increasing use and ease of ultrasound, could we one day see lumbar punctures follow in the footsteps of central line placement?

Master placement of surgical chest tubes with these simple tips and tricks.

Do you routinely perform large volume (or near large volume) paracentesis in your ED? If so, you need to know about a potentially life-threatening complication of this procedure...