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Know your audience and environment
P3: Prepare, Practice, Pitch
Read MoreIt's 6pm in the ED on a sunny summer afternoon- you're working as a single coverage physician at a level 3 trauma center. You are noticing an uptrend in the trauma patients being brought in over the past few hours. While log rolling yet another patient, an EMS provider tells you that they have been making runs nonstop- all of the hospitals downtown are overloaded, and it doesn't look like it will slow down anytime soon. Your modest trauma bay is already full, and you're starting to sweat about the state of the department- there are 4 patients in the pod you haven't even seen yet, 2 with abnormal vital signs.
Read MoreYou are a 4th year EM resident moonlighting on your first day in a remote area as the solo provider that has minimal availability to consulting services. The nearest major hospital is approximately 100 miles away.
A 5 year old child enters your ED at 3 am with a large, complex laceration to the face from a dog bite which will likely require sedation and a layered closure. His injuries were sustained approximately 6 hours ago. The wound is complex and will require a multi-layered closure and there are a couple of areas of tissue avulsion. You have 1 or 2 cases of similar experience from approximately 1 year ago on your plastics rotation...
Read MoreYou are an EM resident from the US working in a rural South African hospital as part of a global health elective. The political climate is such that a prolonged government strike is leading to severe staffing and resource shortage. There are no disposable gloves and many procedures are performed barehanded. One day during rounds in the Labor Ward, the Chair of the department asks you to draw blood from an HIV-positive woman in labor as the team is presenting the patient in her room. The only remaining gloves in the hospital are a few pairs of sterile gloves reserved for emergency cesarean deliveries. There are high rates of HIV-exposure and many staff members are currently on post-exposure prophylaxis.
Read MoreYou are enjoying a cocktail on the way to Hawaii on a well earned vacation when a voice comes aloud overhead, “Attention all passengers. If there is a doctor or health care provider present, we ask that you please come to the front of the plane immediately.” From your vantage point in the back of the plane, it becomes clear very quickly that no one is volunteering. You find yourself being stared at by a plane full of people as you make your way to the front, to find a morbidly obese Caucasian female with a flight attendant at her side. You start your encounter…
Read MoreExplosive injuries cause high numbers of casualties compared to chemical and biological incidents
After a long shift in the adult ED, jam packed with patients presenting with abdominal pain, your looking forward to a brand new day in the Peds ED. Your first patient, however, gives you PTSD-like flashbacks to the previous days shift.
Alice is a 8 year old girl who developed abdominal pain last night. Her parents thought that she would be okay waiting until morning, that the pain would pass in the night. On waking this morning, however, the pain was still there.
Read MoreIt's weird how you get runs of patients in the ED. Some days it seems like it's nothing but wall-to-wall low risk chest pain, altered mental status, or back pain. Today (and a lot of other days), it's abdominal pain. Scanning the board you see seemingly nothing but Level 3 acuity patients with the chief complain of "Abdominal pain." Out of the scores of patient's, you seen so far, the last 2 worry you the most:
Andrea is a very pleasant 20 year old student from a local college. She came in after having symptoms of right lower quadrant pain over the course of the past 8-12 hours. She didn't recall any migratory symptoms but does endorse a lack of appetite, nauseousness, 2 episodes of vomiting (started after the pain), and steadily worsening pain.
Read More1. Pericardiocentesis tips and tricks
Case 1 - 22 yo F in a "coma" with normal vital signs. Not responding to Narcan and Dextrose. Found in a garage. On exam, she has sluggish and dilated pupils. pH 6.98, pCO2 29, bicarb 2
High concern for toxic alcohol ingestion: consult DPIC and nephrology for dialysis
Blood supply to the eye is from the Internal Carotid and drainage is through cavernous sinus. Bony eye septum is an improtant structure that separates the superficial structures from the deeper structures that have direct communications with the brain.
Key historical factors: recent eye procedures, eye drop use, contact lens use, occupational history, UV ligh exposure
Read More1. Indications for T pod
In patients with blunt trauma who are in shock and have AMS, incidence of pelvic fractures is 10%. In patients who die of blunt trauma during transport, open book pelvis fracture is the #1 cause of death (according to our own QI data)
Read MoreWe are in a thinking profession.
An outsider looking in on our profession may see procedures and action as the defining characteristics of the practice of Emergency Medicine. But, reflecting on the attributes of the best EM docs I’ve worked with, their procedural excellence isn’t what stands out. Thinking back on the great physicians I have met and worked with, the ones I strive to be like every day, it is their ability to think, lead, and educate that sticks with me the most.
And, it turns out I’m not the only one who might see it like this…
Read MoreIt's a frosty Easter morning and the ED is "q!&%t," all except for the 2 patient's turned over to you by the night ranger. You greet the first patient, a 75 yo M complaining of flank pain - probably a kidney stone you think to yourself as you walk in to the room. Walking into the room, you see the patient rolling around on the stretcher (as one would expect from those with a stone jammed in the UVJ), but something about his presentation strikes you as odd - a bit of diaphoresis, clammy pale skin. It could just be pain, but the specter of a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm still looms large in your differential diagnosis. You quickly exit the room, grab the ultrasound machine and head back in to take a look at his aorta...
Read MoreRemember that sometimes the thing a patient needs most is a specialist (i.e surgeon), especially trauma patients
SRU (pronounced "shrew") = Shock Resuscitation Unit
Training in, and managing, the SRU is one of the crown jewels of our residency. It is where the sickest of the sick patients are found in our ED. It is a crucible, a test of knowledge and strength, and a true manifestation of the tripartite mission of our department: Leadership, Excellence, and Opportunity.
Training in, and managing, the SRU is one of the crown jewels of our residency. It is where the sickest of the sick patients are found in our ED. It is a crucible, a test of knowledge and strength, and a true manifestation of the tripartite mission of our department: Leadership, Excellence, and Opportunity.
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