SAEM Clinical Images Series: A Backpacker’s Rash
A 33-year-old female presented with a progressively worsening rash for one week. The patient just finished hiking the John Muir Trail, a backpacking trip that encompassed three weeks and over 240 miles. On the last days of the trip, the patient started to develop a severely itchy, red rash on both feet. She tried using a topical anti-fungal, which seemed to make the rash worse. She now has swelling and [+]
10 Tips to Improve Patient Satisfaction in the Emergency Department
Exceptional communication is essential when providing care to patients in the ED. This is especially true given that we don’t have a preexisting relationship with our patients. They have never seen us before, [+]
PEM Pearls: Red Flags for Child Abuse – Case 1
Child abuse is a common cause of pediatric morbidity and mortality. In 2015, over 650,000 children were found to be victims of maltreatment and over 1,500 child deaths occurred due to child abuse [+]
A Can’t Miss ED Diagnosis: Euglycemic DKA
A middle-aged man with a history of diabetes and hypertension presents with nausea, vomiting, and shortness of breath. His laboratory testing is remarkable for a leukocytosis, ketonemia, and an anion gap acidosis (pH [+]
SAEM Clinical Image Series: A Young Woman with Chest Pain
A 35-year-old female with a history of intermittent palpitations who is three months post-partum presented to the emergency department (ED) with three days of sharp, substernal chest pain radiating down her left arm. She reportedly had a normal electrocardiogram (ECG) at an outside hospital on the first day of symptoms. The pain returned and was associated with one episode of vomiting the night prior to presenting to our ED. Initial ECG on arrival is [+]
Salicylate Toxicity PV card v2: Lessons in post-publication review
I was recently the author of a PV card for management of Salicylate Toxicity, which had some discrepancy with expert opinion. The point of contention was in regards to measurement of urine pH vs [+]
Tricks of the Trade: Fluorescein application techniques for the eye
Application of fluorescein is a vital part of the workup of ocular complaints. Despite some studies showing questionable support, the typical cited clinical concern for stored fluorescein solutions is contimination with Pseudomonas and [+]
Trick of the Trade: Eye pH
Your patient presents with an ocular burn after accidentally splashing an industrial acid on his face. You, however, can not seem to find the ever elusive eye pH paper to track her initial and serial pH’s [+]
IDEA Series: Video Review as an Experiential Model for Difficult Airway Education
The Problem Difficult airways, including those that are edematous, burned, soiled, or traumatic, pose one of the greatest procedural challenges for emergency physicians. Furthermore, unanticipated difficult airways represent 5-15% of intubations in the ED. Emergency medicine residents gain experience with difficult airways largely through hands-on practice while caring for critically ill patients. The relatively low frequency of complex intubations, however, necessitates an educational model that extends beyond the ED and can be shared with multiple [+]
I am Dr. Scott Weingart, ED Intensivist & Author of EMCrit Podcast: How I Work Smarter
I have known Dr. Scott Weingart for several years now and have watched with amazement about how quickly he established his academic reputation in critical care through the little podcast that could, EMCrit, in 2009 into a worldwide standard. His mantra is: “Bringing upstairs care, downstairs one podcast at a time.” Scott also has blanketed the lecture circuit, and I look forward to catching up with him when he comes to speak at our upcoming UCSF [+]
