The Case A 74-year-old male with a history of COPD arrived in the emergency department in respiratory distress. On physical examination, the patient was mildly tachypneic and had an oxygen saturation of 93% on a non-rebreather mask. On auscultation, the patient had wheezing and diminished air movement bilaterally. A supine chest radiograph (CXR) was obtained. A short time later, a radiologist called to confirm the presence of a “moderate sized right pneumothorax” (Figure …
Tiny Tip: HELLP Syndrome
If you train in a tertiary care center with obstetrical triage, you may not assess many pregnant women beyond the first trimester of pregnancy. However, in community emergency departments without a primary obstetrics triage department, you will often encounter pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH; systolic pressure 140 mmHg, or diastolic pressure 90 mmHg), a common complication occurring in 7-9% of pregnancies. HELLP syndrome is an important subset of PIH that comes with its own built-in mnemonic …
Boring Question: Dizzy, need a few HINTS?
The dizzy patient. If you haven’t seen a patient with this chief complaint, you either don’t work in an emergency department or you work in an imaginary emergency medicine utopia! Admit it, when you pick up the chart that reads “chief complaint…dizzy”, you look around inconspicuously, slowly replace that chart in the rack… and run quickly become preoccupied with some fascinating task from… oh… somewhere over there! But why? It is not because we …
KT: High Five (strategies to effectively use online resources), Bro
Why this paper is important?
A very practical article with tips and tricks relevant to newcomers and well-seasoned FOAMites.
Basic Airway Assessment: It’s as easy as… 1-2-3?
In medical school, many multiple-choice questions in the setting of an acutely ill patient have an option of “managing the ABC’s” and it is always the correct answer. Unfortunately, saying “I would manage the ABCs as my first priority” is very different from actually knowing how to assess an airway, let alone managing abnormalities during a trauma resuscitation. If you think this is going to be some crazy airway blog post, think again. …
Boring Question: How useful are bowel sounds?
This month we launch the first post in a new series entitled “Boring Questions”. This column will focus on reviewing key literature around common questions that might be asked during a shift. – Teresa Chan (Managing Editor) Clinical Scenario: A 60-year-old female presented to the emergency department with a 24 hour history of lower abdominal pain. The pain had increased in intensity over the past day and was 7/10 on presentation. She has …