You are halfway through your very first Emergency Medicine shift. You have a 23 year old male patient who appears to be a slam dunk for acute appendicitis – he has symptoms that are consistent with the presentation, pain on palpation at McBurney’s point, a high white count, and CT findings of appendicitis. Your staff is being pulled in a thousand different directions, and asks you if you feel comfortable calling General Surgery …
How to Write a Procedure Note
Emergency Medicine is known for being a relatively procedure-heavy specialty. Whether it be suturing up a forehead laceration, performing an incision and drainage of a forearm abscess, reducing and casting a Colles fracture, or performing a diagnostic lumbar puncture on a patient with altered mental status, it’s highly likely that you’ll have the chance to perform multiple procedures throughout your EM rotation. However, this also means that you’ll be responsible for documenting the …
Time Management in the ED: Is there such a thing?
Being efficient with your time during an ED shift is an important skill to develop. Not only will this help you (and your staff) keep up with the demands of a busy emergency department, but as a learner this will also provide you with the opportunity to see more cases and have more time for teaching and feedback. This blog post will outline some tips and tricks for managing your time effectively throughout …