PECARN: Its relevance and importance in pediatric emergency care
Did you know that many of the landmark pediatric emergency medicine (EM) studies come from the Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network (PECARN) collaborative? It works to address the challenging pediatric questions that only multicenter studies can. In this blog post, we highlight PECARN’s goal to translate, disseminate, and implement evidence to all providers of emergent and urgent care for pediatric patients. [+]
ALiEM Annual Report 2019: Innovation moves at the speed of trust
Before we launch too far into the 2020 year, we look back and celebrate our team’s successes and lessons learned from each of our projects and leaders. There are too many people who make the ALiEM efforts possible to include in our annual report, but we wish to publicly thank them all for their dedication towards education. Attached below is a glimpse into our team’s efforts and reach. [+]
ACMT Toxicology Visual Pearls: Painful Hand
What is the recommended treatment for a patient with this hand injury following a sting by the marine creature shown? [+]
Angela Rombola, MD
Carolinas Medical Center, Charlotte, NC
Latest posts by Angela Rombola, MD (see all)
SplintER Series: A Rare Cause of Traumatic Thumb Pain
A 45 year-old male presents with right thumb pain and deformity after falling off his bicycle. You obtain hand x-rays and see the following images. What is the most likely diagnosis, differential diagnosis, and management plan? Figure 1. AP and oblique views of the hand. Author’s own images. [+]
Victor Huang, MD
Teaming Tips 10: Resuscitate Your Meetings | ALiEM Faculty Incubator
Many of you are asked to take a leadership role in leading a team, whether it’s for research, administration, or even clinical. It is easy to feel unprepared for these roles, and there are many pitfalls waiting to sabotage your team’s productivity. The ALiEM Faculty Incubator has created a series of 10 case-based teaming problems to provide you with evidence-based advice and solutions for tackling some of the more common problems encountered in our professional team experiences. [+]
SplintER Series: The 2 minute ankle exam | Leg Day #5
Welcome to Leg Day #5 of the SplintER Series. The focused history and physical ankle exam of the patient with an acute ankle injury is a crucial tool often overlooked in the Emergency Department (ED). Our hope is that after enough practice, you will be able to complete your ankle exam within 2 minutes! The key is to practice, practice, and practice some more. [+]
SAEM Clinical Image Series: A Multifactorial Skin Eruption
A 9-year-old male with no past medical history, brought in by his mother to the ER with a new rash on his face and torso. The rash began 10 days ago. On the day he developed the rash, the patient noted swimming in a newly chlorinated outdoor pool. That same day he also played with freshly picked oranges and limes outdoors with his friends, having squeezed the juices onto his head and body. He developed a non-painful, non-pruritic, hyper-pigmented rash on his left cheek. Over the course of 3 days, the patient and his family [+]
TLDR Book Review: The Culture Code – The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups
Have you had shifts or worked on committees where everything went smoothly? Closed loop communication happened, there was mutual respect among all the team members, and each individual felt empowered to give input even if it differed from what had already been said or done? You’ve probably also worked on shifts, in meetings, or participated in projects where it seemed like the team was falling apart, communicating on different wavelengths, and failing to have a shared understanding. You may feel like a great leader one day and a failure the next. The difference, according to The Culture Code, has everything [+]
IDEA Series: Just-in-Time Training for Diagnostic Paracentesis
According to the National Health And Nutrition Examination Survey, approximately 630,000 adults in the United States have cirrhosis of the liver, 69% of which are reportedly unaware of having liver disease. A diagnostic paracentesis is a simple procedure for identifying spontaneous bacterial peritonitis in cirrhotic patients with ascites. A just-in-time training (JITT) model incorporating low-fidelity equipment readily available in the ED can facilitate procedural teaching of the diagnostic paracentesis. [+]
SAEM Clinical Image Series: Uncommon Cause of Right Groin Pain
A 48-year-old male presents with 2 weeks of severe right lower quadrant abdominal pain and inguinal pain. The patient had similar pain 2 weeks ago, was referred to a surgery clinic, but was lost to follow up. The pain has been progressively worsening over the last 2 days. It’s now severe, associated with nausea and vomiting, does not radiate, and it is worsened with coughing and sneezing. He also endorses polyuria for an unknown length of time. His last bowel movement was 3 days ago. He denies diarrhea, constipation, hematochezia, melena, dysuria, hematuria, or recent [+]