As part of the Arts PRN series, we will intermittently be featuring pieces of historic art that hint at an underlying medical condition. They say a picture is worth 1000 words… can you Spot the Diagnosis after examining only a painting? Read on to learn not only about the art, but about these fascinating medical conditions. Who knows, maybe they’ll help you make a diagnosis some day (or at least help you out …
Tiny Tip: SCALP for the Layers of the Scalp
At some point during clinical teaching in emergency medicine, someone is likely to ask you about the layers of the scalp, and Rosen’s provides a helpful mnemonic for remembering them1: S – skin C – connective tissue A – aponeurosis L – loose areolar tissue P – periosteum You may be asking yourself why you would need to know about the layers of the scalp. Isn’t this just the sort of trivia you …
My Heart Goes Boom… ß-Blockers in Cardiac Arrest
A 52-year-old male presents with chest pain. He arrests upon arrival to the Emergency Department and is found to be in ventricular fibrillation. You provide good CPR and defibrillate the patient, and treat him with doses of epinephrine and amiodarone in keeping with the ACLS algorithms. The patient continues to be in ventricular fibrillation despite even trying dual-sequential defibrillation and you are running out of other options for treatment. Should ß-Blockers be tried …
Tiny Tips: How ready is this child?
Not many neonates are delivered in the Emergency Department, but those rare babies who greet the world for the first time under the fluorescent lights of the resuscitation bay are precisely those who warrant urgent and concise communication about their clinical status to our obstetric, paediatric, and neonatologist colleagues. The Apgar score is an assessment tool designed for precisely this kind of communication. Developed by Virginia Apgar, an American obstetrical anaesthesiologist, the Apgar score …
How useful is the physical examination in suspected cauda equina syndrome?
Background Cauda equina syndrome (CES) is a syndrome consisting of one or more of the following: (1) bladder and/or bowel dysfunction, (2) reduced sensation in the saddle area (i.e. the perineum and inner thighs), and (3) sexual dysfunction, with possible neurological deficit in the lower limb (motor/sensory loss or reflex change) [1]. The cauda equina is a latin name meaning horse’s tail and represents nerve roots L2 through L5. CES is caused by …
Spot the Diagnosis! The Case of The Ugly Duchess
As part of the Arts PRN series, we will intermittently be featuring pieces of historic art that hint at an underlying medical condition. They say a picture is worth 1000 words… can you Spot the Diagnosis after examining only a painting? Read on to learn not only about the art, but about these fascinating medical conditions. Who knows, maybe they’ll help you make a diagnosis some day (or at least help you out …