Pediatric emergency physician Sean Fox, MD, FACEP, FAAP (@PedEmMorsels), recently tweeted a link to his blog, PedEmMorsels.com, highlighting the management of the child with congenital adrenal hyperplasia presenting in shock. In short, treat the electrolyte imbalances, and give a bolus of IV hydrocortisone initially at 1–2 mg/kg. This blog is a great pediatric resource, covering topics from trampoline injuries to short videos demonstrating important pediatric procedures. Included is one on transtracheal jet ventilation, which, while simple in theory, is a procedure that I would be scared to perform.

From #FOAMcc (critical care) to #FOAMtox (toxicology), you can use the search tool to find outstanding medical information in just about any niche that strikes your fancy.

Recently, a flurry of #FOAMped tweets came out of a new conference held in Brisbane, Australia (#DFTB17). They were put out by the pediatric emergency medicine blogger team at DontForgetTheBubbles.com. The blog’s cofounders, Tessa Davis, MSc, MBChB (@TessaRDavis), Andy Tagg, MBBS (@AndrewJTagg), Henry Goldstein, MBBS (@HenryGoldstein), and Ben Lawton, MBBS, FRACP (@PaedsEM), were at the helm of this successful new conference focused on pediatric emergencies and the art of pediatric medical practice. I am pleased to report that a third FOAM pediatrics hashtag featuring the more British/Australian spelling of the word (#FOAMpaeds) indeed exists, but it has not yet taken off, so we can chalk one up for the Americans.

#FOAMus

Perhaps, the most active sub-FOAM hashtag of them all is the one used by point-of-care ultrasound experts and enthusiasts: #FOAMus. This hashtag has become particularly valuable since Twitter started allowing short videos to be embedded directly into tweets. Short looping videos of ultrasound can now be shared.

Sam Ghali, MD (@EM_Resus), is a master at creating them. In one recent video, he showed a stunningly clear example of echocardiographic findings of cardiac tamponade. Right ventricular and atrial collapse, an underfilled left ventricle, a heart “swinging” around from side to side, and, of course, a massive pericardial effusion are all pristinely labeled. That’s why it has been retweeted more than 430 times and viewed by tens of thousands of grateful FOAM-heads like me.

And More!

There are many other hashtags like these. From #FOAMcc (critical care) to #FOAMtox (toxicology), you can use the search tool to find outstanding medical information in just about any niche that strikes your fancy.

So far, I am sad to report that my valiant attempt to get the new hashtag #TwitterIsForMedicalEducationAndResearchDissemination trending just hasn’t materialized. I can’t figure out why!