Until about 10 years ago, Matthew Strehlow, MD, FACEP, clinical associate professor of emergency medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine in Stanford, California, didn’t hear much about congestive heart failure (CHF).

Now there’s much more for emergency physicians to know, and his session at ACEP 2015, “Acute Decompensated Heart Failure: Time-Critical Interventions,” will serve as a primer.

“If you’re going to work in the emergency department, you’re going to manage these patients on a daily basis,” said Dr. Strehlow, who also serves as codirector of Stanford Emergency Medicine International.

“What you do in the first few minutes is either going to make them better or they’re going to end up in the critical care unit. Any time you get them in the critical care unit or they end up getting intubated … most of the time that means we failed in our job,” he said.

Using case studies and discussions of aggressive therapies including nesiritide, high-dose nitroglycerin, and noninvasive ventilation, Dr. Strehlow hopes to make attendees more comfortable when dealing with this cohort of patients.

“Any time you get them in the critical care unit or they end up getting intubated … most of the time that means we failed in our job.”—Dr. Strehlow

For CHF patients, the best treatment starts at the diagnosis. “How can you stand at the bedside and within five minutes have the best chance of getting to the correct diagnosis?” he said. “Because if you don’t have the correct diagnosis, you’re not giving the correct therapy, right?” Attend this session to learn how to make the first few minutes count.

Richard Quinn is a freelance writer in New Jersey.