Welcome back to PoCUS Previews, your illustrated guide to the world of Point of Care Ultrasound (PoCUS)! In the hands of a skilled sonographer, PoCUS can serve as a valuable tool while assessing a patient in trauma. PoCUS can quickly and fairly accurately detect blood loss and signal the presence of internal organ damage. Thus, the Focused Assessment with Sonography in Trauma (FAST) scan is one of the most celebrated uses of PoCUS …
A Study on Behalf of the CCEDRRN: Trends in COVID-19 ED management and outcomes, wave-by-wave.
In 2020, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) presented the largest public health crisis inover a century. Healthcare workers had to learn how to treat and manage patients withCOVID-2019 without overwhelming health systems. They were faced with both evidence-based and non-evidence-based treatment recommendations. Simultaneously, public healthinterventions aimed to reduce transmission in the population and protect those mostvulnerable. In this evolving context, we wanted to know whether clinicians were able toadapt their clinical practice. We also …
PoCUS Previews 02: Intro to Image Generation
Welcome back to PoCUS Previews, your illustrated guide to the world of Point of Care Ultrasound (PoCUS)! This month’s infographic will focus on image and probe orientation, different probe movements that can be used to generate these images, and some common artifacts (or abnormal alterations in ultrasound images). Ultrasound images can be challenging to interpret when we consider their dynamic nature and varying conventions that surround them. This infographic breaks down the orientation …
Tiny Tips: The COWS Scale
As the opiate crisis continues to escalate, emergency departments are seeing higher numbers of patients with complaints and complications related to opiate use disorder. There is strong evidence for opiate agonist treatment in preventing opiate related deaths. Additionally, Suboxone (buprenorphine-naloxone) is the recommended first line treatment.1 Suboxone Treatment For a full Suboxone start, a patient is required to be in moderate withdrawal, meaning a Clinical Opiate Withdrawal Scale (COWS) score of greater than …
Miracles from Heaven Case Report: Small Bowel Obstruction
Earlier in the day, five-year-old Annabel had a regular morning and afternoon. She attended a birthday party and seemed to be herself, laughing with her friends and running around. At 0200 and Annabel calls for her mom, crying and clutching her stomach. Her mom rushes into her daughter’s room and finds Annabel in significant pain. Annabel is rushed to the hospital at 0400. At triage, she is in significant discomfort, crying, and tachycardic. …
Clinical Question – How Do I Approach Agitation and Aggression in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder in the Emergency Department?
A 7-year-old boy with autism spectrum disorder presents to the emergency department (ED) with upper respiratory infection symptoms. He starts becoming agitated as you try to auscultate his lungs and aggressively comes towards you. You are unsure of the best method to approach this situation. Research has demonstrated that almost one third of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who present to the emergency department had negative experiences or unwanted outcomes.1,2 Children with …