Mindfulness in the emergency department (MED): An asynchronous learning course to practise mindfulness and resilience in the emergency room of low resource setting

Owing to the fast-paced, stressful, and frequent crucial rapid decisions that trigger cognitive exhaustion, emergency physicians are especially vulnerable to burnout. Mindfulness practices have been defined in the literature and it focuses on the well-being and resilience. Mindfulness is characterised as the ability to use tools and expertise to mentally respond to environmental problems to fulfil psychological needs. To overcome burnout, a self-directed learning course was developed for emergency physicians that will include learning goals on mindfulness, peer group discussions and tasks, role playing and practising meditation exercises. It would concentrate on the foundations of mindfulness and resilience, learning and incorporating mindfulness, understanding the coping mechanisms and establishing a pathway to minimise anxiety and depression

New Onset Refractory Status Epilepticus as an Unusual Presentation of a Suspected Organophosphate Poisoning

New onset refractory status epilepticus (NORSE) is a new entity in medical literature. It has different infectious and noninfectious etiologies showing a devastating impact onto the clinical outcome of patients. Therapy with anaesthetic and antiepileptic agents often fails to improve the condition, unless the primary cause is rectified. Here is presented the case of a young female with a history of depression who after a recent bereavement came to the Emergency Department of Aga Khan University Hospital with complaints of drowsiness that lasted for few hours. Though she had no history of organophosphate poisoning, her physical examination and further investigations were suggestive of the diagnosis. During her hospital stay, she developed refractory status epilepticus. Her seizures did not respond to standard antiepileptic and intravenous anesthetic agents and subsided only after intravenous infusion of atropine for a few days. Organophosphate poisoning is a very common presentation in the developing world and the associated status epilepticus poses a devastating problem for emergency physicians. In patients with suspected organophosphate poisoning with favoring clinical exam findings, the continuation of atropine intravenous infusion can be a safe option to abate seizures

Unforgiving heat wave deaths in the largest metropolitan city of Pakistan: lessons learned

Heat stroke is a deadly condition that needs astute care and timely management. Recently, the city of Karachi in Pakistan has been the victim of an intense heat wave, which has resulted in an insurmountable loss of life. We observed various deficiencies in dealing with this national threat that provides us with a valuable lesson regarding the measures that can be undertaken to avoid such a disaster from occurring again

Biventricular thrombus in hypereosinophilic syndrome presenting with shortness of breath.

A 48 years old male presented to clinic with 12 months of low grade fever with shortness of breath which has progressively worsened with no associated weight loss, night sweats or loss of appetite. There was no prior history of chronic illness before the current illness. Laboratory workup revealed a high white blood cell count with predominant eosinophils. Chest X-ray was normal. Transthoracic echocardiography and Cardiac Magnetic Resonance showed biventricular thrombi. On further extensive workup the findings were consistent with hypereosinophilic syndrome. The patient was started on oral steroids, hydroxyurea, imatanib mesylate and oral anticoagulation. The patient responded to the treatment with complete resolution of his symptoms over the course of few months. The repeat Echocardiogram after a year showed normal left ventricular systolic and diastolic function with complete resolution of biventricular thrombi