Contributor: Aaron Lessen, MD Educational Pearls: Acid and alkali ingestions have differing prognosis and immediate concerns Immediate issues can include superficial irritation, severe burns, esophageal perforation, and even airway compromise from edem Long term morbidity can include strictures Supportive care is typically all that can be provided in the emergency department Diagnostics may include imaging…
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the silent killer strikes Chief Complaint: Stroke Alert HPI: 68 year old female with past medical history of coronary artery disease status post stent, hypertension, hypothyroidism, hyperlipidemia is brought in by EMS as a stroke alert after being found unresponsive in bed by family prior to arrival. Last known normal is 10pm last night when…
Read MoreContributor: Peter Bakes, MD Educational Pearls: Lyme disease gives a single expanding target lesion with central clearing called erythema chronicum migrans Erythema multiforme is another targetoid rash that presents with multiple target lesions Characterized into erythema minor and major based on severity but typically resolves More severe hypersensitivity reactions include Stevens-Johnson Syndrome (<10% skin involvement),…
Read MoreContributor: Adam Barkin, MD Educational Pearls: Fever is an adaptive response to infection, but elderly and immunocompromised patients may not be able to mount a hyperthermic response in sepsis Patients with fever in sepsis end up receiving treatment earlier and have better outcomes Hypothermic patients with severe sepsis admitted to the ICU had a 32%…
Read MoreContributor: Aaron Lessen, MD Educational Pearls: Survey study compared depression symptom prevalence in the United States at the beginning of COVID compared to data acquired by a similar survey for 2017-2018 and found it was three-fold higher Mild symptoms: 25% during pandemic; 16% before Moderate: 15% during pandemic; 6% before Moderately Severe symptoms: 8% during…
Read MoreContributor: Ricky Dhaliwal, MD, JD Educational Pearls: Glucagon administered intravenously has a high rate of adverse events (nausea/vomiting) with very weak evidence NItroglycerin too has very limited evidence but a much better adverse event profile Mix 0.4 mg (1 sublingual tablet) nitro in 10 mL of water and administer orally Nothing beats upper endoscopy for…
Read MoreContributor: Jared Scott, MD Educational Pearls: While it is rare to have a native hip dislocation, it is relatively common to dislocate a prosthetic hip The mechanism for dislocation is usually adduction, flexion, and internal rotation the hip which can occur when walking Arthroplasty in the setting of trauma or fracture, posterior approach during surgery,…
Read MoreA heartfelt excerpt from our most recent UnfilterED episode with Dr. Don Stader. Check out this episode!
Read MoreContributor: Katie Sprinkel, MD Educational Pearls: Hereditary angioedema (HA) is an autosomal dominant bradykinin-mediated disease affecting the airway, skin or gastrointestinal tract and typically presents with swelling in the absence of pruritus HA episodes last 3-5 days, typically occur first in childhood or adolescence, and decrease in frequency with aging Airway angioedema is the most…
Read MoreContributor: Katie Sprinkel, MD Educational Pearls: Psychogenic Non-Epileptic Seizures (PNES) are due to a psychogenic rather than an epileptic cause Despite common assumption, PNES are not always volitional 20-40% of those with PNES can also have true epileptic seizures 20-40% True diagnosis requires a video EEG Characteristics of PNES include: Waxing and waning of the…
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