In this article, we will dive into the world of abdominal wall pain – specifically from a condition called Abdominal Cutaneous Nerve Entrapment Syndrome (ACNES) – a diagnosis rarely considered when seeing patients with abdominal pain in the ED. Case Your next patient is Ms. Amanda Cnes, a 34-year-old female with abdominal pain. Before seeing the patient, you have a flip through her chart. She has had numerous ER visits for abdominal pain …
Virtual Retreat 2020: The Future of CanadiEM
On August 24, 2020 CanadiEM held its first ever virtual retreat. The goal was to take time to think about the direction of the organization and blog and to map out a vision for the future of CanadiEM. We also aimed to build connections with our members who are distributed around Canada and internationally, especially since in-person gatherings like conferences have been cancelled in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. This post aims to …
Tiny Tip: “WARM CREAM” as a diagnostic mnemonic for Kawasaki Disease
Kawasaki Disease is typically a self-limiting, medium vessel vasculitis that predominantly affects Asian male children between the ages of 1 to 5.1 One of the major complications from Kawasaki Disease is the development of coronary artery aneurysms. If left untreated, 20-25% of the cases of Kawasaki Disease are associated with coronary artery aneurysms,2 but the risk is reduced to <5% when treated appropriately.3 Thus, it is important to recognize the presentation of Kawasaki …
Subungual Hematomas and Trephination
Case Presentation You are a clinical clerk on your rural family medicine rotation working in the local emergency department. Your preceptor asks you to see a 25-year-old male who presents shortly after having hit his left index finger with a hammer while building a new deck this afternoon. He is otherwise healthy, he is not taking any medications, and he has no known drug allergies. He is right-handed and works as an electrician. …
HiQuiPs Special Post: In Situ Simulation and High Reliability Organizations in the time of COVID-19
It has been a slower than usual night shift, and you have just led a resuscitation for a COVID-19 patient in your ED. Your ED has experienced several policy changes in recent weeks, from new standards for the use of personal protective equipment to policies for mitigating risk during aerosol-generating medical procedures to guidelines on how to best communicate between resuscitation and support teams. You wonder how your department can implement multiple changes …
How to Read and Make Statistical Process Charts – Part 1
You are attending your monthly ED business meeting. There has been a recent effort to decrease the time it takes a patient to be transferred to the imaging department for a STAT CT scan. The project team has concluded the first two PDSA cycles after wide stakeholder engagement, and a root cause analysis. Two interventions were carried out: one, redesigning the process for patient pick up and transport, and two, a new expedited …