All in EBM

EBM Review Series: Picking the Right Chest Tube, Does Size Matter?

A thirty-year-old male presents to the emergency department (ED) as the unrestrained driver of a rollover motor vehicle accident. During his trauma assessment, the patient becomes progressively more dyspneic, and you are unable to auscultate breath sounds on the right chest wall. Do you reach for the pigtail catheter (PTC) (</=14 French) or the large bore catheter (LBC) that you were trained to place for a hemothorax (28-32 French)?

EBM Review Series: End-Tidal CO2 Measured at Triage Outperforms Standard Vital Signs – Potential Utility and Value of ETC02

A patient is brought to the emergency department (ED) by emergency medical services (EMS) with concern for sepsis. The patient has a history of urosepsis but is oriented with vital signs in the normal range. You - the physician - are deciding if it is appropriate to sepsis alert the patient now, or if you should first collect more data. What other information could be used to better inform this decision?

EBM Review Series: Are they shocky?

Megyn Christensen, DO & Martin Klinkhammer, MD, MHP, FACEP from Eastern Virginia Medical School at Old Dominion University review the September 2025 study on the usage of shock index as a indicator of compensated shock among trauma patients. Here's their analysis.

EBM Review Series: International Validation of the Canadian Syncope Risk Score

Pediatric patients account for more than 30 million emergency department (ED) visits each year, making up 20% of all ED visits in the U.S. In order to improve pediatric readiness in the nation’s hospitals, joint guidelines were created for the care of children in EDs. In April 2022, a retrospective cohort study in JAMA Surgery evaluated the association between ED pediatric readiness and mortality of injured children. Virginia's emergency physicians took a look at the study, and here’s what they found.

Pediatric patients account for more than 30 million emergency department (ED) visits each year, making up 20% of all ED visits in the U.S. In order to improve pediatric readiness in the nation’s hospitals, joint guidelines were created for the care of children in EDs. In April 2022, a retrospective cohort study in JAMA Surgery evaluated the association between ED pediatric readiness and mortality of injured children. Virginia's emergency physicians took a look at the study, and here’s what they found.