Sound Check: Newborn Hearing Screening Best Practices & Follow-Up
A baby passes their hearing screen — great. But what if they don’t? Or what if they pass, but there’s still risk for hearing changes down the line?
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The Plague: What You Need to Know
Whena person in northern Arizona died of the plague in July 2025, we wondered if we had time-traveled back to the medieval era. The last time most of us thought about the plague was likely in school, studying for our boards.
Introducing the Next Chapter of ERcast
At Hippo, we make choices big and small based on our mission: to empower the people of medicine to learn, grow, and thrive through education and community. As emergency medicine and EM education continue to evolve, we’ve been asking ourselves some important questions:
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Building a Sustainable POCUS Program in Your Practice: Practical Insights for Healthcare Professionals
Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) is transforming the way healthcare providers approach diagnostics, enabling immediate insights that enhance patient care. As this tool becomes more integrated into clinical practice, we, as healthcare professionals, face some challenges when building a sustainable POCUS program. From selecting the right equipment to navigating certification, credentialing, and billing, there’s a lot to consider.
Optimizing Inhaler Technique in Children: Common Errors and Fixes
Asthma is one of the most common chronic conditions in pediatrics, and inhaled medications are at the heart of effective management. But here’s the twist: even when we prescribe the right drug at the right dose, if the inhaler technique is off, the benefits can vanish in a literal puff of air.
Thrombolytics for the Coding Patient
Managing a cardiac arrest is the paramount skill of an emergency medicine physician. The process is a furious loop of assessments, actions, and decisions. Choices are often made with minimal information to fall back on, and delays of mere seconds can define the outcome. When running the rapid mental checklist of Hs and Ts, the decision to give or withhold thrombolytics is one that is often made amidst a fog of uncertainty. And while the...
The Knee Exam, Rebooted: What Every Clinician Should Know
Knee pain is one of the most common musculoskeletal complaints seen in primary care, emergency medicine, and outpatient clinics. Yet despite its prevalence, evaluating an injured knee can feel deceptively complex. Swelling can obscure findings, patient discomfort may limit your exam, and the sheer number of specialized maneuvers can leave even experienced clinicians second-guessing their technique.
2026: A Time for Reflection, and Resolutions
Nurse practitioners are a vital part of our healthcare system. We are compassionate and capable clinicians who help to improve access to care in almost every setting and specialty. Behind the essential role we play lies a growing reality that is raising concern in the healthcare community: the path to becoming an NP in the United States lacks consistent standards, especially compared to the highly standardized, regulated training at the...
Rethinking Cardiovascular Risk: Why the PREVENT Calculator Is Changing the Game
If you're a primary care clinician, chances are you order lipid panels more than any other lab. Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) remains the leading cause of death globally, and a staggering 80% of ASCVD-related events are preventable. Prevention is our domain, but how do we best estimate risk and guide shared decision-making?Enter the PREVENT calculator, the American Heart Association’s (AHA) updated tool for assessing...
Short Bursts, Long Risks: A Clinician’s Guide to Steroid Side Effects
Short courses of oral steroids are part of our primary care toolkit, whether it's prednisone for COPD, asthma, back pain, or a rash that just won't quit. But even a quick burst can pack a punch. If your patient came back with high blood sugars or mood changes after a Medrol Dosepak, you’re not alone.
Ultrasound in Resuscitation: What Every EM Clinician Should Know
Bedside ultrasound has become a common tool in many EDs. Potentially one of the most important uses of ultrasound is during resuscitation. When a patient is crashing and every moment counts, having the ability to quickly assess the clinical situation and make critical decisions is paramount.
Six Small Skills for 2026: Simple Tweaks That Make Difficult Conversations Easier
If you’re walking into 2026 feeling a bit overstretched, over-messaged, and maybe even a little under-caffeinated, you’re in good company. Clinical work has never been more complicated. Information is noisier, time feels tighter, and tough conversations seem to show up in nearly every shift.
