The Problem With Overcrowding in the Emergency Department

Emergency Medicine has undergone many changes over the last couple of decades and especially during the COVID pandemic. Most of these changes have been very positive, but increasing volumes, staff shortages, aging populations, increasing breadth of responsibilities and better access to more imaging have made some of us question how we should define the scope of our practices. In this main episode podcast, highlights from CAEP 2022 conference, Anton discusses the article 'Saving EM: Is Less More?' with Dr. Paul Atkinson and Dr. Grant Innes and offer some solutions to this current state of affairs in EM. In another CAEP highlight, trauma team leader Dr. Mathieu Toulouse delivers the latest on management of traumatic pneumothorax. He answers such questions as: Do all patients with a traumatic pneumothorax require tube thoracostomy? How do CXR and CT differ in determining which patients require a chest tube? Do all patients receiving positive pressure ventilation require a chest tube for their traumatic pneumothorax? Does the presence of hemothorax necessitate placement of a chest tube? Are 14Fr pigtail catheters adequate for all traumatic pneumothoraces? and many more...