A 12-year-old healthy male fell while learning how to use his hoverboard. An X-ray done in the ER shows a displaced distal radius fracture, amenable to reduction and non-surgical management. While discussing the reduction technique, his parents request analgesia with as little sedation as possible because they don’t want him “put to sleep.” You recall reading about a type of regional anaesthesia for the upper extremities but do not know the effectiveness and …
Tiny Tips: History taking in a returning traveler
Following a trip abroad, up to 8% of travelers will present for medical attention1. Many of these complaints are mild, but some are life-threatening. A detailed travel history and history of the presenting illness are essential in identifying serious illnesses and preventing over-investigation of more common non-dangerous infectious complaints (i.e. URTI’s). An easy mnemonic to help you remember key aspects of the travel history is TRAVEL: [bg_faq_start] T – Time of onset The timing …
Medical Concept: Optic Neuritis
Optic neuritis is inflammation of the optic nerve. It typically presents with loss of vision, dyschromatopsia (color vision impairment) and ocular pain.
Tiny Tips: weakness MADE NICER
Editor’s Note: This is a great mnemonic developed by two Canadian medical students Anali Maneshi and Matthew Cherian. This tool serves as a framework for an approach to a common ED presentation. If you have a tiny tip for us please consider sending it along by following our author instructions here. Geriatric patients make up 20% of all visits to Canadian EDs (1). General weakness, which can have a large differential, is a common …
How to survive (and like) your emergency medicine clerkship core rotation
Chances are that if you are reading this blog post you already have an interest in emergency medicine. In fact, you’ve probably spent countless hours learning about the field, perhaps by reading articles on this very blog. My hope is that this post will give you some tips and tricks to help you survive and thrive during those all-important core and elective emergency medicine clerkship rotations. On the off chance you’re thinking of …