#FOAMed

Iain Beardsell reflects on the kindness and sense of community he encountered at SMACC Gold in 2014. He considers how friendships formed through social media can deepen face to face, and what a compassionate conference culture might bring back to everyday emergency care.

A 2014 journal club examines falling severe-sepsis mortality across Australian and New Zealand intensive care units between 2000 and 2012. It asks what improving outcomes might tell us about the whole package of care, while distinguishing historical comparisons from evidence for any single treatment.

A musical contribution to SMACC’s FOAMaoke tradition, celebrating free, open-access medical education and sharing knowledge across professional boundaries. This 2014 post introduces a playful adaptation of Imagine and provides the words for conference colleagues to join in.

How do the many tools for investigating and treating pulmonary embolism fit into one coherent pathway? This 2014 discussion explores the challenge of combining diagnostic rules, risk assessment and outpatient care, as work began on British Thoracic Society guidance for ambulatory management.

Could a shorter acetylcysteine infusion make treatment for paracetamol poisoning easier to tolerate? This 2014 journal club examines a randomised trial of an accelerated regimen, separating findings about nausea and infusion reactions from the larger question of effectiveness in preventing serious liver injury.

A contemporary review of NICE’s January 2014 head-injury guideline, CG176. The post explores what changed for emergency clinicians, including CT decisions in adults and children, anticoagulation, cervical spine imaging and discharge information, while discussing the evidence and uncertainties behind the recommendations.