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?
Upper gastrointestinal bleeding remains a common reason for emergency department visits and is a major cause of morbidity, mortality, and medical care costs. Often when these patients arrive, the classic IV-O2-Monitor is initiated and hemodynamic stability is assessed. Some of the next steps often performed include:
What is the evidence for these treatments, and do they affect morbidity and mortality?
It’s 3 am in the middle of your busy night shift and you begin your evaluation of a 65 year-old woman with diabetes with several hours of unilateral flashes of light in her left eye. Her visual fields seem normal, but you are unable to see her fundus with your direct ophthalmoscope. Luckily, you remembered the teaching from your ultrasound rotation during residency.
Handshaking has been practiced as far back as the 5th century BC and used today as a common way of greeting others. In the hospital setting this occurs multiple times throughout the day. Many alternatives to the handshake have been developed and utilized, but they have failed to replace the handshake as a form of greeting. Nosocomial infections have been identified as a major preventable complication of inpatient care and one of the most important initiatives to reduce this is hand hygiene. The authors of this study propose the fist bump as a safe and effective way to avoid hand-to-hand contact and therefore reduce transmission of infection. 1 (more…)