Welcome to Leg Day #2 of the SplintER Series. Following up with the Leg Day #1’s primer on tibial plateau fractures, another key orthopedic injury of the leg is hip dislocation. A hip dislocation occurs when there is separation of the head of the femur from the acetabulum of the pelvis in either an anterior or posterior direction.1
When should urinary tract infections (UTI) be included in the differential diagnosis for febrile infants and young children? The EM Committee on Quality Transformation in the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) thoughtfully outlines a clinical algorithm to help guide clinicians towards a standardized, evidence-based approach. Thanks to the expert content team (Drs. Shabnam Jain, Anne Stack, Scott Barron, Pradip Chaudhari, and Kathy Shaw) for sharing this clinical algorithm.
A patient presents to your ED with an all too common complaint – chest pain. After a focused history and physical exam, you have an extremely low clinical suspicion for thoracic aortic dissection, pulmonary embolism, pneumonia, pneumothorax, pericarditis/myocarditis, and Boerhaave’s syndrome. When the labs (including a troponin), an ECG, and chest x-ray yield normal results, questions often arise. Can you discharge her with a single troponin if she is low risk? How do you define low risk? And lastly, does she need urgent provocative testing after discharge?
Accidental hypothermia is a life threatening condition that can lead to a challenging resuscitation. The very young, old, and intoxicated patient are at high risk to developing hypothermia, even in temperate climates. The pathophysiologic changes from hypothermia make the standard ACLS approach insufficient to care for the hypothermic patient. This article will discuss the physiology of hypothermia and how you should alter your approach in the hypothermic patient, including early consideration of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO).
A bedside urine test for a pesticide is positive as shown in the photo. What pesticide is being detected?
A 2-year-old previously healthy boy presents to the emergency department (ED) acting sleepier than usual. Yesterday, he was in his usual state of health, but this morning he didn’t wake up at his usual time of 6 am. When his father went to his room at 7 am, the child was lying in bed. He opened his eyes to look at his father, but did not get out of bed. The mother and father deny any trauma, fever, or seizure activity.
We are proud to present Capsules Module 11: Acute Agitation, now published on ALiEMU. We present a summary of the module with key points from a stellar module by PharmDs Jenny Koehl, Kyle DeWitt, Gabrielle Procopio, and Zlatan Coralic. When you’re finished, head over to the Capsules page for even more practical pharmacology for the EM provider.
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