High risk and low prevalence diseases: Myocarditis.

INTRODUCTION: Myocarditis is a serious condition that carries with it a high rate of morbidity and mortality. OBJECTIVE: This review highlights the pearls and pitfalls of myocarditis, including presentation, diagnosis, and management in the emergency department (ED) based on current evidence. DISCUSSION: Myocarditis is an inflammatory syndrome of myocardium, most often resulting from a viral infection, that can cause life-threatening cardiovascular collapse. It has a highly variable presentation and no widely available specific diagnostic test, making it a challenging diagnosis. Emergency clinicians should obtain an electrocardiogram and perform bedside ultrasound to assess cardiac function. Treatment in the ED is largely supportive, focusing on resuscitation, cardiovascular support, cardiology specialist consultation, and appropriate disposition. CONCLUSIONS: An understanding of myocarditis can assist emergency clinicians in diagnosing and managing this potentially deadly disease.

Academic Life in Emergency Medicine (ALiEM) Blog and Podcast Watch: Infectious Diseases.

The Academic Life in Emergency Medicine (ALiEM) Approved Instructional Resources (AIR) Series and Approved Instructional Resources - Professional (AIR-Pro) Series were created in 2014 and 2015, respectively, in response to the growing need to curate online educational content as well as create a nationally available curriculum that meets individualized interactive instruction criteria for emergency medicine (EM) trainees. These two online series identify high-quality educational blog and podcast content using an expert-based approach. The AIR series is a continuously building curriculum originally based on the Council of Emergency Medicine Directors (CORD) testing schedule. In September 2019, 61 blog posts and podcasts published within the previous 12 months and relevant to infectious diseases were evaluated by eight attending physicians using the ALiEM AIR scoring instrument. In this review, we summarize the accredited posts on infectious diseases meeting our a priori quality criteria per evaluation by the reviewers.