EM Quick Hits 15 – COVID-19 Practical Tips, Pediatric COVID and Human Factors

Special edition EM Quick Hits podcast on COVID-19 #2: Practical Tips, Pediatric COVID and Human Factors Drs. Sara Gray, Emily Austin, Chris Keefer, Justin Morgenstern, Sarah Reid, Chris Hicks, Peter Brindley and Andrew Cameron share their experience with the COVID-19 pandemic and offer some practical tips. Podcast production, editing and sound design by Anton Helman Written summary & blog post by Anton Helman, April 2020 Cite this podcast as: Helman A. Gray, S. Austin, E. Keefer, C. Morgenstern, J. Reid, S. Hicks, C. Brindley, P. Cameron, A. EM Quick Hits 15 - COVID-19 Practical Tips, Pediatric COVID and Human Factors. Emergency Medicine Cases. April, 2020. https://emergencymedicinecases.com/em-quick-hits-covid-19-more-experiences-practical-tips/. Accessed [date]. This podcast was recorded in late March, 2020 and the information within is accurate up to this date only, as the COVID pandemic evolves and new data emerges.  COVID weekly updates via the EM Cases Newsletter and on the EM Cases website under 'COVID-19' in the navigation bar. This podcast and blog post are based on Level C evidence - consensus and expert opinion. Examples of protocols, checklists and algorithms are for educational purposes only and require modification for your particular needs as well as approval by your hospital before use in clinical practice. Practical tips on managing yourself, your team and your patients in the COVID-19 pandemic Sara Gray's 4 step COVID wellness program * Normalizing: Know that your stress, anxiety and fear is normal * Remember that you're not alone; we're all in this together - stay connected * Make a happy list - a list of activities that brings you joy or comfort or peace or are refreshing including a) physical activity, b) mindfulness, c) emotional wellness * Make your strategies explicit by making a schedule, tell other people about your happy list EM Cases Episode 103 Preventing Burnout & Promoting Wellness in EM with Sara Gray Beware of anchoring bias in the COVID era Not every patient who presents with fever has COVID, and even those with documented COVID and get sick with another diagnosis. Keep your differential diagnosis wide as you would before the COVID era so that you don't miss alternate important life or limb threatening diagnoses. Keep your eye out for the many diagnoses that could be masquerading as COVID-19. Time management tips during the COVID era * Limit yourself to one hour per day (with a timer set) to learn about COVID-19 using the time in a structured, deliberate and purposeful way. * Choose your top 6 sources for COVID-19 information and stick with them, which can be divided into direct (correstpondance from hospital), text-based (e.g. up to date, quickicutraining.com), audio source, social media source (Forbes' currated list of COVID experts to follow on Twitter), big picture source. * Mute the noise! Use 'do not disturb' mode on your iphone or zenmode for android phones. To stay connected with the medical community during COVID and find the best COVID hacks in real time try the free app developed by Andrew Cameron https://pandemos.care/ Pediatric COVID management considerations (March 30th, 2020) * Disease severity is low in children compared to adults perhaps due to lack of the ACE-2 receptor and/or a decreased immune response resulting in respiratory failure,