SAEM Clinical Image Series: Facial Burn

A 50-year-old female with a history of bipolar disorder, ADHD, anxiety, depression, and alcoholism presented to the ED after her family found her at home agitated, restless, and with a “large black burn” on her face. Her husband reported that she had been “picking” at this area of her face earlier in the day; at that time it appeared only slightly red. Per her husband, the patient had also felt “bugs crawling on her legs” and had been picking at and grabbing her legs on the day of presentation.

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2019-11-07T20:52:47-08:00

Nov 11, 2019 | Allergy-Immunology, Dermatology, SAEM Clinical Images, Tox & Medications

By: Samuel Southgate and Meghab Herbst, MD |Editors: Josh Bukowski, MD

TLDR Book Review: Deep Work – Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World

Do you struggle when you try to focus on one task for a prolonged period? When you’re reading or writing a paper, are you frequently tempted by social media, a click-bait HuffPo article, or what the latest Instagram celebrities have been doing? Most of us are not used to spending large periods of time doing deep work. Like any skill, the ability to focus is something that we have to develop and train. This book, Deep Work, by Cal Newport will explain why it is so critical to develop our ability to focus deeply, and how to do it.

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2019-11-08T10:00:31-08:00

Nov 8, 2019 | Book Club

By: Christina Shenvi, MD PhD

SAEM Clinical Image Series: Chest Wall Mass

A 71 year-old patient with a past medical history of hypertension, percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty 7 years ago, and robotic coronary artery bypass grafting of the left internal mammary artery to the left anterior descending artery 9 years ago presents with worsening dyspnea on exertion. He had a biopsy of the upper lobe of the left lung the week before. He was having a neoplastic mass evaluated. The patient presents with a soft left-sided anterior chest mass, inflating and deflating with respiration.

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2019-11-06T17:57:56-08:00

Nov 7, 2019 | Pulmonary, SAEM Clinical Images

By: Harry Stark MD, MBS |Editors: Josh Bukowski, MD

SAEM Clinical Image Series: Mysterious Blood Sample

34-year-old female with a history of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and pancreatitis presents for epigastric and left upper quadrant abdominal pain. Her symptoms started yesterday evening and have been worsening since onset. She reports chronic epigastric pain that waxes and wanes for several years since her first episode of pancreatitis in 2014. Yesterday she had an abrupt onset of nausea that accompanied the pain without emesis. The pain worsened and is now currently 10/10 in severity. She describes it as severe and deep. She has no bloody or dark stool. She denies any heavy alcohol use, changes in medications, or drug use.

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2019-11-06T18:36:53-08:00

Nov 7, 2019 | Gastrointestinal, SAEM Clinical Images

By: Sarah Monks, MD |Editors: Josh Bukowski, MD

APPLY NOW: 2020 Essentials of Emergency Medicine Education Fellowship Program

The 2020 Essentials of Emergency Medicine (EEM) conference is in May 2020, but opportunities start NOW. This conference is one of the largest live EM educational conferences in the world with over 2,000 attendees. The conference organizers, led by Dr. Paul Jhun, are again offering an amazing opportunity for EM residents anywhere in the world to serve as an EEM Fellow for the next EEM conference May 21-23, 2020.

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2019-11-06T18:39:38-08:00

Nov 5, 2019 | Academic, Medical Education, Social Media & Tech

By: Luz Maria Silverio, MD

Guideline Review: 2018 IDSA Update on Influenza (Infographic)

Did you get your flu shot? We hope so. Influenza season is upon us again and it is always helpful to review the latest 2018 Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA) update on the diagnosis and treatment of influenza.¹ Notable is that influenza-confirmed patients who present within 2 days of symptoms who are deemed low risk do not automatically warrant antiviral treatment. The subsequent question then is who is high risk? The following infographic by our Guidelines Editor, Dr. Kelly Wong, summarizes the key take-home points for emergency medicine clinicians.

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2019-11-01T10:50:33-08:00

Nov 1, 2019 | Guideline Review, Infectious Disease

By: Michelle Lin, MD

Trick of the Trade: Combine Adenosine with the Flush

2019 literature update from this original 2012 Trick of the Trade post!

The success of adenosine depends as much on the administration technique as it does the mechanism of action. The 2010 Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) Guidelines recommend the following when administering adenosine:

“6 mg IV as a rapid IV push followed by a 20 mL saline flush; repeat if required as 12 mg IV push”

This recommendation remained in the 2015 iteration.

While most drugs are metabolized in the liver, adenosine doesn’t even make it that far, being metabolized in the erythrocytes and vascular endothelial cells. With this extremely short half-life (10 seconds), it is important to help it reach the heart before it’s metabolized and excreted without being effective.

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2019-11-04T05:59:49-08:00

Oct 31, 2019 | Cardiovascular, Tox & Medications, Tricks of the Trade

By: Bryan D. Hayes, PharmD, DABAT, FAACT, FASHP