Learn of basics of interpreting EKGs. This is part 1 of 2, with quick hits focused on the science behind EKGs and how to interpret the rate, rhythm, and axis.

Part 2 of EKG Basics, we pick up right where we left off in Part 1. Quick review of rate, rhythm, and axis followed by focused hits on intervals, hypertrophy, and everything else.

Kelsey walks us through the basics of how to interpret Arterial Blood Gas results.

You've discovered hypo----emia in your patient, so now what? How do you actually replace electrolytes? Especially when low levels can kill your patient! We walk through the basics of electrolyte replacement with dosing, routes, rates, and a few puns.

Ben walks us through the current status of COVID antibody tests (as of 9/16/20).
Should you get one? When are they most accurate? What information do they actually give us?

Alcohol and the liver just don't mix. In this episode, John walks us through how to diagnose, classify, and initiate treatment for alcohol-induced hepatitis.

Which inhalers? When do you add them? Oral medications? And what's all this talk about Gold?
Join us to clear the air on goal-directed medical therapy for COPD.

What does procalcitonin tell us? In what clinical situations is it useful? Should we be ordering it?
Ben addresses these questions and more with many references for you to do more
digging into this clinical conundrum.

CT radiology reports can be super intimidating. We break down some of the common terms and correlate them to the image findings to help you become better able to understand what's going on in your patient (and even get the gist of what's going on before the official read is available!).

Having an array of options is generally a good thing in life. But when it comes to medications, a wide array can make the decision process much more difficult and confusing. In this episode we walk through the medications class options for diabetes management including the hierarchy of when to use what class, specific indications, contraindications, and adverse effects.

Who's at risk for aspiration pneumonia? Is it always a true infection? What do we need to empirically treat for? And how can we prevent it in the first place?

Nutritional rehabilitation is critically important for healing to be possible, but if done without caution it could lead to potentially deadly complications with rapid onset. But the best treatment is prevention, so have a high index suspicion for any patient at risk, and you could save them from disastrous consequences.

IV fluids are one of (if not the) most common medications given in the hospital. But what's actually in them? What do they do after being infused? Which one is best for your patient? How do you even order them? In this intro to IV crystalloid fluids, we walk through the basics of Normal Saline, Lactated Ringer's, and 5% Dextrose to help you understand these ubiquitous but critical medications.

The awaited follow-up to our electrolyte replacement episode! We finally address the conundrum of hyponatremia, which actually is more of an issue with water than with sodium. Find out how to classify hyponatremia, figure out the underlying cause, and fix the imbalance with many screenshot-able
charts and diagrams along the way.

Click for a FREE download of The Fluid, Electrolyte, and Acid-Base Companion

Bonus follow-up to the Hyponatremia episode! In this episode we focus on the Syndrome of Inappropriate ADH with a treatment approach that allows you to calculate exactly what fluid restriction you should recommend for your patient with SIADH to correct their hyponatremia over a duration that you deem appropriate.

Click for a FREE download of The Fluid, Electrolyte, and Acid-Base Companion

Prenatal care is essential for a healthy pregnancy and a healthy infant. In this episode we go through the essentials of prenatal care visits, important information to provide for your patient, how to assess possible complications, and more.

Hypertension in a pregnant woman can have a variety of implications and consequences. But why does it happen in the first place, and why is it such a big deal? In this video we walk through the disease spectrum of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy including pathophysiology, risk factors, and management strategies ranging from watchful waiting all the way to magnesium prophylaxis and emergency delivery.

When is an induction of labor indicated? What is the process, and what are some tools to help the process? In this video we address these questions and more, including how to use the Bishop score, pros & cons of different methods to ripen the cervix, and pros & cons to different induction strategies.

In the final video of our OB series, we walk through how to interpret a fetal heart tracing. All those graphs mean something, but how do you differentiate and make sense of the heart rate, variability, accelerations, decelerations, and contractions? And more importantly, what does that information tell you about the status of the mother, health of the fetus, and what interventions are indicated?

A nurse calls to inform you that your patient's heart rate is 167. What do you do next? How do you figure out what's going on? In this first of a 2-part series on narrow complex tachycardia, we outline a simple approach to diagnosing these arrhythmias starting with the irregular rhythms.

Fear EKGs no more! In this second video of our 2-part series on narrow complex tachycardia, we walk through a simple approach to the regular rhythms so that you can quickly diagnose these arrhythmias and start the appropriate treatment for your patient.

1: Many illnesses requiring hospital admission alter the patient's insulin requirements and blood glucose levels during the acute illness.
2: Most of the non-insulin diabetes medications aren't on hospital formularies. In this two-part series, we walk through what the ins and outs of ordering insulin in the hospital for non-critically ill patients.

Part 1 of our insulin series focuses on how to determine the initial dose and orders on admission.

In part 2 of our series on inpatient insulin, we talk about how to use the POC glucose values from the day before to adjust your patient's insulin doses. We also walk through two example patients, one with a pre-existing insulin regimen and one without. Finally, we address the conundrum of steroid-induced hyperglycemia.

In part 1 of this series on gastrointestinal bleeding we discuss terminology, clues to differentiate upper and lower GI bleeds, key historical and physical findings, and how the ways that patients typically describe symptoms correlate with medical classifications.

Venous thromboembolism is a source of considerable morbidity & mortality in hospitalized medical patients. But, there's a fine line between preventing clots and causing bleeding. In this episode we discuss non-pharmacologic & pharmacologic prophylaxis options, how to weigh the risk of VTE against the risk of bleeding, and which patients to consider for which type of prophylaxis.

Patients in the hospital can have very severe pain, and it's extremely important to address their pain in a way that is safe and effective. In this episode we walk you through different options and specific examples for various levels of inpatient pain control that can be applied to patients of all types.

Discussions about code status are critically important and often times emotionally taxing. But the translation of a patient's wishes into hospital code status can be confusing and is filled with abbreviations. DNR, DNAR, FI, LI, CMO... In this video we break down different code status designations to clarify what interventions are included or excluded, as well as what the goal is for the patient's care. This will help you not only to understand the terms for yourself, but also to better guide your patients to a code status that aligns with their wishes and values.

Atrial fibrillation is extremely common, but its management can be confusing. There are many different factors that go into treating A-fib, and they each depend on patient characteristics, hemodynamics, risk factors, and provider expertise. This episode is an overview of A-fib including causes, pathophysiology, acute treatment, and chronic management.

Stress tests are super common and are an important tool in both risk stratifying patients with suspected coronary artery disease and helping to guide the next best step in workup or treatment. But there are many components to stress tests, and they tend to mix & match. In this episode, we explain how to determine if your patient needs a stress test, what the options are for stressing the heart, the basics of how to interpret the results, and what to expect on the report.

Both acute and chronic hypoxemia are abundant among patients in both the inpatient and outpatient worlds. Figuring out the etiology of the hypoxemia is critical for appropriate correction of the hypoxemia and treatment of the underlying cause. To keep your head on straight and avoid feeling overwhelmed with mile-long differentials, think about hypoxemia in five buckets: shunt, diffusion barrier, V/Q mismatch, hypoventilation, and low PiO2. In this video, we walk through each of those buckets so that you can understand key diagnostic features, treatment principles, and management implications that will help you to take the best care of your patients.

Respiratory failure is not only common, it's also a terrifying experience for patients. In this episode we break down the two major types of respiratory failure: hypercapnic and hypoxemic. Then, we walk through various types of interventions and when to think about using which one, from bag-valve mask and nasal canula all the way to BiPAP and intubation.

Labs are foundational to the practice of medicine and significantly affect our work every day. But our training includes little (if any) information about how the lab functions, who the amazing staff in the lab are, and what factors go into the process in between placing the order and receiving the result. This episode aims to give you a basic understanding of the elements of the laboratory that affect your daily work so that you can be more efficient, effective, and savvy with labs.

Nausea can be debilitating and it can be the result of a variety of different etiologies. While you're working up the underlying pathophysiology, it's important to know how to best alleviate your patient's nausea. In this episode, we break nausea down into four main buckets and explain why certain classes of medications will most effectively target a patient's nausea depending on which bucket they fall into.

Most clinical-level med students could rapidly spout off the textbook lab parameters to differentiate iron vs vitamin B12 vs folate deficiencies... but what about when you have a real patient in front of you? And what if the lab results aren't totally clear? In this episode, we pick up where Step 1 & Step 2 left off, and launch into practicalities of diagnosing and treating these forms of anemia.

The goal of this episode is to share some practical clinical EKG pearls to make quick interpretation a little easier. I'll cover different types of interference that mimic dangerous rhythms, subtle findings that can clue you in to particular diagnoses, and other helpful tips. Be on the lookout for part 2 with a second round of tips including how to decipher dangerous patterns within heart blocks.

Part 2 picks up where part 1 left off (so make sure to watch part 1 first)! This episode is all about the QRS and how it can give you major insights into the diagnosis. The width, morphology, and amplitude of the QRS can differentiate common from rare, benign from dangerous, and stable from unstable. With just a baseline understanding of electrophysiology, you'll be picking up EKG clues in no time.

An acute heart failure exacerbation is one of the most common admitting diagnoses that we see in the hospital. An aggressive IV diuretic regimen is key to getting these patients feeling better and out of the hospital as soon as possible. But how exactly to choose that IV regimen and adjust along the way is very patient-dependent and can be tough to predict from the start. In this episode, we cover how to choose the initial diuretic dose and how to monitor your diuretic success. In Part 2, we'll talk about complicating factors that arise including electrolyte imbalances, pharmacodynamics, and side effects.

Aggressive IV diuresis can result in significant symptomatic and functional improvements for a patient, but there are a few major roadblocks along the way that you might run into. In this second of our 2-part series on IV diuresis, we talk about complications to watch out for, dosing adjustment strategies to try, and clinical tips to make your patient's hospital stay more efficient and comfortable.

Constipation is a super common and very uncomfortable problem that often times gets overlooked by doctors. But constipate no more - we're here to help. In this video we go through various approaches & strategies to both prevent and treat constipation. We cover non-pharmacologic, oral medications, suppositories, enemas, and more. Because let's face it. Poop is important for health. So let's get moving.