Did you know that there are podcasts which focus specifically on studies done in Emergency Medicine? The Skeptics Guide to Emergency Medicine: Hot off the Press podcast highlights the best papers published in Academic Emergency Medicine. Alfred Wang, MD, Assistant Professor of Clinical Emergency Medicine, recently took part in a the podcast and discussed his new publication, “Troponin Testing and Coronary Syndrome in Geriatric Patients With Nonspecific Complaints: Are We Overtesting?” Alfred provided commentary on his recent article, live in front of residents and faculty at the Detroit Receiving/Detroit Medical Center residency program.
According to Jeffrey Kline, MD, editor in chief of Academic Emergency Medicine, “This paper highlights the fact that indiscriminate ordering of troponin testing in elderly patients with non-specific complaints appears to lead to more harm than good. This is a provocative concept that may lead to change in practice.” Alfred also notes, “the podcast focused on a study done by Drs. Ben Hunter, Jason Schaffer, Keaton Morgan, Dan Holt and I looking into the rate of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) amongst elderly patients presenting to the emergency department with nonspecific complaints. We found that ACS was rare in this patient population, no patients required re-perfusion therapy, and there was a high false positive rate.”
Click here to listen to Alfred’s podcast episode hosted on SGEM’s website!