Approaching the complaint Occipital neuralgia is a headache disorder characterized by shooting neuropathic pain secondary to greater or lesser occipital nerve pathology. The diagnosis should be considered in a patient presenting with the following: Unilateral or bilateral pain originating at the skull base Sharp, shooting, lancinating, or burning pain that radiates forward along the dermatomes supplied by the greater or lesser occipital nerves Paroxysmal pain lasting seconds to minutes Dysesthesia or allodynia over …
CanadiEM MVP Infographic Series – Comparison of PECARN, CATCH, and CHALICE Rules
Editor’s Note – This post is one in a series of articles detailing “must know” papers in emergency medicine. Each post will summarize the findings of one study identified by the research of Bazak et al.1 Introducing the CanadiEM MVP Series Evidence-based practice is critical for delivering quality emergency care, but with such a broad specialty identifying and recalling high-yield studies can be challenging. This is especially true for new EM learners, who …
Describing a Rash
When describing a rash there are many characteristics to make note of, including its primary morphology, secondary morphology, demarcation, colour, configuration, and distribution. The focus or this article will be on primary morphology. Reasoning through the first blush Within primary morphology you can stratify a lesion based on whether it is flat or elevated. If the lesion is flat, then it will be either a macule or patch. A macule is a flat lesion …
CanadiEM MVP Infographic Series – Thrombolysis with Alteplase 3 to 4.5 Hours After Acute Ischemic Stroke
View PostHiQuiPs: Patient Safety in the ED Part 3 – The Role of Safety Culture in a Patient Safety Program
You are attending a departmental event when you walk over to a group of your colleagues, and the conversation goes silent. You wonder if you had that effect on the conversation, but the awkward silence is reluctantly broken by the person who was speaking when they quietly continue their story. This veteran physician discusses a recent incident where they placed a wrong-sized lumen chest tube in a patient, only to have to replace …
Blood & Clots Series: When and how should I reverse anticoagulation with warfarin?
All the content from the Blood & Clots series can be found here. CanMEDS Roles addressed: Medical Expert Case Description You are in the emergency department seeing an 89-year-old female presenting with five episodes of coffee ground emesis over the last twenty-four hours. She has atrial fibrillation and is on long-term warfarin for stroke prevention. She also has CAD and had two drug eluting stents placed 4 years ago but is no longer …