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About Michelle Lin, MD

ALiEM Founder and CEO
Professor and Digital Innovation Lab Director
Department of Emergency Medicine
University of California, San Francisco
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Paucis Verbis: Serotonin syndrome

Synapses serotonin syndrome

Background

Serotonin syndrome is caused by the excess of serotonin and presents classically as:

  • Altered mental status
  • Autonomic instability
  • Neuromuscular hyperactivity

Fortunately, there’s a nice algorithm (Hunter’s decision rule) which helps you decide whether it is serotonin syndrome or not. I also include a table, which I adapted from a New England Journal of Medicine review article, which helps you to differentiate it from its mimickers, such as anticholinergic syndrome, neuroleptic malignant syndrome, and malignant hyperthermia.

PV Card: Serotonin Syndrome


Adapted from [1, 2]
Go to ALiEM (PV) Cards for more resources.

A video to remind you what clonus looks like:

Thanks to Dr. Steve MacDade (Univ of Florida, Jacksonville EM resident) for the idea!

References

  1. Boyer E, Shannon M. The serotonin syndrome. N Engl J Med. 2005;352(11):1112-1120. [PubMed]
  2. Ables A, Nagubilli R. Prevention, recognition, and management of serotonin syndrome. Am Fam Physician. 2010;81(9):1139-1142. [PubMed]
By |2021-10-11T15:32:25-07:00Jan 6, 2012|ALiEM Cards, Tox & Medications|
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Paucis Verbis: Feedback card

end of shift feedback Today’s Paucis Verbis card is a little different. This card focuses on helping you give talking points when giving feedback to a learner on shift. This could be a medical student or resident.

Dr. David Thompson (UCSF-San Francisco General Hospital) sent this great card to me and I thought it was too useful NOT to share. It’s handy on shift, which ultimately is the purpose of these Paucis Verbis cards. These are useful especially for senior residents, who are supervising medical students and junior residents.

This card can be used in many ways. For instance:

  • Print these cards and fill it out at the end of the shift. Give to the learner.
  • Pick 1-2 questions from the list below as launching points for your feedback discussion. You don’t have to overwhelm the learner by answering everyone item below. Sometimes less is more to be effective.

PV Card: End of Shift Feedback


Go to ALiEM (PV) Cards for more resources.

By |2021-10-11T15:37:33-07:00Dec 9, 2011|ALiEM Cards, Medical Education|
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Trick of the Trade: Bandaging the scalp laceration

ScalpLac2

Scalp lacerations are one of the most common injuries which present to the Emergency Department. Applying a dry bandage over the staples or sutures can be a challenge because the tape just has nothing to adhere to.

We reviewed the use of tubular cotton gauze to create a beanie hat, but what should you do if you can’t find any tubular gauze? Ever since I wrote about the beanie hat trick, people in the ED have been using the tubular gauze more and we’re always out of stock whenever I look for it!

(more…)

By |2019-02-19T18:08:01-08:00Dec 5, 2011|Tricks of the Trade|
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Paucis Verbis: Acute vestibular syndrome and HINTS exam

Dizziness HINTS exam acute vestibular examWhat is your diagnostic approach to the acutely vertiginous patient?

The bottom-line question is: Is the cause peripheral or central in etiology?

In this great 2011 systematic review article in CMAJ on Acute Vestibular Syndrome (AVS), the authors review how (un)predictive elements of the history and physical exam are. By definition of AVS, symptoms must be continuous for at least 24 hours and have no focal neurologic deficits.

Frighteningly, the authors report many of the signs and symptoms (type of dizziness, hearing loss, patterns of nystagmus, Hallpike-Dix) are not as predictive as we classically are taught!

The take home point is to learn and incorporate the 3-part HINTS exam into your diagnostic approach (see bottom box on card). It is reported to be as good as a diffusion-weighted MRI for diagnosing a posterior stroke. The steps are:

  1. Do the horizontal head impulse test. (Normal = central cause)
  2. Check for directionally-alternating nystagmus movement on left and right gaze.
  3. Do the alternate cover test.

PV Card: Acute Vestibular Syndrome vs Stroke | The HINTS Exam


Adapted from [1]
Go to ALiEM Cards for more resources.

There is a helpful 10-minute video showing normal and abnormal HINT findings:

  • Head impulse testing
  • Nystagmus testing
  • Testing of skew

VIDEO LINK: http://emcrit.org/misc/posterior-stroke-video/

Thanks to Dr. Brian Resler (UCSF-SFGH EM resident) for giving me the heads up about this at Followup Conference!

Reference

  1. Tarnutzer A, Berkowitz A, Robinson K, Hsieh Y, Newman-Toker D. Does my dizzy patient have a stroke? A systematic review of bedside diagnosis in acute vestibular syndrome. CMAJ. 2011;183(9):E571-92. [PubMed]
By |2026-06-16T16:02:58-07:00Dec 2, 2011|ALiEM Cards, Neurology|
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