You are treating a patient with left lower leg cellulitis. The nurse is going to establish IV access, draw blood work, and give analgesia and antibiotics. Before walking into the room, the nurse asks, “Do you need me to grab a set of blood cultures?” Additionally the hospitalist had asked you to order a “set of cultures” on your most recent cellulitis admission. Should you proceed?
A healthy 4 year-old boy is brought in by mom for a plastic bead up his nose. The mom states, “The last time the other doctors had to be called, and it took forever. Oh, and I have to pick up his brother from school in 30 minutes. Can you get it out, doc?” The patient is squirming even as you take a quick peek at his nose, but you catch a glimmer of the bead up his right nare.
We are very excited this month to bring you our third Global Journal Club. We hope you will participate in an online discussion based on the clinical vignette and questions below from now until March 27th. Respond by commenting below or tweeting (#ALiEMJC).
On Tuesday, March 25, 2014 at 1630 EST, we will be hosting a 30-minute live Google Hangout with Dr. Niklas Nielsen, the lead author of the Targeted Temperature Management (TTM) study, that is informed by the discussion. Later this year a summary of this journal club will be published in Annals of Emergency Medicine.
Trying to suture or staple a scalp laceration is oftentimes a hairy proposition for emergency physicians who repair these types of wounds regularly. Although the “hair apposition technique” method is one option, if one opts for sutures or staples, the most difficult part of the procedure is trying to avoid trapping hair strands within the wound, which may cause wound dehiscense, a foreign body reaction, or a local infection.
Today, the New England Journal of Medicine just released a landmark paper by the ProCESS (Protocolized Care for Early Septic Shock) trial investigators. There has already been much buzz about this on various blogs and websites, including St. Emlyn’s, MedPageToday, and MDAware. I received an email from my colleague Dr. Michael Callaham, who shared some direct comments and pearls from Dr. Donald Yealy, (professor and chair of emergency medicine from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center) who was the first author of this writing team. Thank you to Dr. Yealy for allowing me to share your team’s comments with the ALiEM readership.
A 55 year old woman presents as the driver of a motor vehicle collision. She has moderate abdominal tenderness diffusely and a seat belt sign, but has a negative abdominal/pelvis CT. Her INR, however, was noted to be 2.1. She is not on any vitamin K antagonists. The surgeons admit her to the hospital to observe for a potential hollow viscus injury and requests that you order 2 units of FFP for her. Seems reasonable… or is it? What is the logic?
A 76-year-old obese male with a history of severe COPD presents to your emergency department (ED) in acute respiratory distress. The patient’s large beard prevents an adequate seal with the NIV (non-invasive ventilation) mask, and the patient continues to desaturate. You are fairly sure that this patient will be a difficult airway and optimizing oxygenation prior to and during your intubation attempt would be ideal. Now what?