Authors: Steve Elsbecker, DO and Aryan J. Rahbar, PharmD BCPS
University Medical Center of Southern Nevada
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| Source: Flickr |
Looking for a quick drug reference on medications used frequently in emergency medicine (EM)? Do you wish that this reference was presented in card format for brief study sessions? Do you like getting stuff for free? If you answered yes to all three questions then you should check out the new resource, 50 Drugs Every Emergency Physician Should Know, available for download at the American Academy of Emergency Medicine/Resident Student Association (AAEM/RSA) website.
This reference was conceived by Dr. Steven Elsbecker as an aid for University of Nevada School of Medicine Emergency Medicine residents. The cards were meant to be concise while capturing all the essential information an emergency physician should know; however, the cards needed to be accessible and relevant for all those practicing in EM such as nurses, pharmacists, and mid-level providers.
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The information on each card is organized into 4 headings: Mechanism of Action (MOA), Dose, Emergent Indications, and Where you’ll Get Into Trouble (WGIT). Of note, the pregnancy risk category information for every drug can be found at the end of the WGIT section. Particular care was given not to overload each card with every piece of data on a drug while highlighting important information into categories such as WGIT. The data used in the construction of these cards came from several sources such as package inserts, primary, and tertiary literature. Additionally, while the cards do contain some information regarding pediatrics, the primary objective was to adequately cover an adult population. Perhaps if there is sufficient interest, a similar card set can be published for pediatrics in the future. These cards are NOT comprehensive but are our best estimation of the most important information for emergency medicine clinical practice.
We hope to update the cards periodically with changes in medical literature; so please take a look, and let us know what you like and don’t like with this 1st edition (info@aaemrsa.org). We sincerely hope you find this reference useful and that it improves the care you render to your patients. You can find the cards at http://www.aaemrsa.org/resources/50-drugs-every-emergency-physician-should-know.