Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Updates from My ACLS Course on Twitter

Twitter is a microblogging service where people answer the question "What are you doing?" via 140-character messages from their cellphone, laptop or desktop. The service can also be used to report from a medical conference -- see 2 examples with my updates from the NEJM Horizons Conference and the 2008 Annual Meeting of American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (ACAAI).

Twitter works well for creating a searchable, "no login required" archive of notes. As a bonus, you can use it later for blogging ideas.

A hash tag is the little code preceded by a "#" that people use to indicate the topic about which they are Twittering. The idea is to ensure that tweets on the same topic can be found and aggregated more easily. Simply search for a particular hashtag on search.twitter.com. In order to make the Twitter postings (or "tweets") easily searchable, I included the hash tag "#ACLS" with each tweet.

Here are my updates from the ACLS course (the oldest post is at the bottom, the newest at the top):

Ves Dimov, M.D.
AllergyNotes #ACLS A Squidoo page about ACLS, BLS and PALS: http://www.squidoo.com/onli...

Ves Dimov, M.D.
AllergyNotes #ACLS "Passed ACLS at the top of the class. Not much to brag about - it's my 3rd time" -- Clarification: 3rd renewal not 3 attempts to pass.

Ves Dimov, M.D.
AllergyNotes #ACLS official reference: Circulation Vol. 112, Issue 24 Supplement; December 13, 2005 http://tinyurl.com/6p7oh8

Ves Dimov, M.D.
AllergyNotes #ACLS is Advanced cardiac life support http://tinyurl.com/6rcsht

Ves Dimov, M.D.
AllergyNotes #ACLS Will publish the combined Twitter updates on CasesBlog next week: http://casesblog.blogspot.com/

Ves Dimov, M.D.
AllergyNotes #ACLS The new books are much thinner but they have moved the info to the enclosed CD.

Ves Dimov, M.D.
AllergyNotes #ACLS Another resource by a cardiologist: ACLS 2005 versus ACLS 2000: my cheat sheet from 2000 is here http://tinyurl.com/6hbsst
Ves Dimov, M.D.
AllergyNotes #ACLS Ran at least 12 codes in teams in all different team positions -- much better training and fact retention than running it alone.

Ves Dimov, M.D.
AllergyNotes #ACLS team positions: leader, chest compressions, breathing, IV access and medications, monitor and shock, scribe. Rotate through each one.

Ves Dimov, M.D.
AllergyNotes #ACLS EMS trainers assembled a team of 6 and each of rotated through different positions in the team.

Ves Dimov, M.D.
AllergyNotes #ACLS For V-Fib, start shock at 200 J biphasic, 360 J monophasic, no escalation in the dose.

Ves Dimov, M.D.
AllergyNotes #ACLS Don't check pulse after shock even if successful on the monitor -- continue CPR for 2 minutes, then check pulse.

Ves Dimov, M.D.
AllergyNotes #ACLS Ratio breathing : chest compressions is 30 : 2

Ves Dimov, M.D.
AllergyNotes #ACLS Another free online resource although a bit outdated: http://tinyurl.com/64f5k5

Ves Dimov, M.D.
AllergyNotes #ACLS PEA mnemonic Pulseless Electrical Activity in -- think of Possible causes, Epineprine, Atropine.

Ves Dimov, M.D.
AllergyNotes #ACLS Amiodarone and Atropine doses are cut in half if the patient has pulse, e.g. Atropine 0.5 mg in bradycardia but 1 mg in asystole.

Ves Dimov, M.D.
Ves Dimov, M.D.
AllergyNotes #ACLS 5Hs and 5Ts differential diagnoses should be considered with almost all algorithms, copied at the bottom of the flash cards.

Ves Dimov, M.D.
AllergyNotes #ACLS They simplified the algorithms since 2005.

Ves Dimov, M.D.
AllergyNotes #ACLS All my ACLS updates will be tagged with #ACLS

Ves Dimov, M.D.
AllergyNotes #ACLS Some ACLS pointers will follow. Six Second ECG Simulator is a good resource http://www.skillstat.com/Fl...

Ves Dimov, M.D.
AllergyNotes #ACLS Passed ACLS with flying colors at the top of the class. Not much to brag about - it's my third time... :-) http://tinyurl.com/645c4o




Video: Twitter in Plain English by CommonCraft.

References:
Twitter Updates from the Severe Asthma Workshop at the 2008 Annual Meeting of American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (ACAAI)
Twitter Dispatches from the New England Journal of Medicine's Horizons Conference. The Efficient MD.
I will be attending NEJM Horizons Conference to push the boundaries of traditional medical publishing, suggestions welcomed
Allergists Can Use Twitter Microblogging Service to Send Patient Reminders
Using Twitter to Microblog a CME Meeting
A Doctor's Opinion: Why I Started Microblogging on Twitter

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