Category Name: practice updates

practice updates

Appendicitis: Pearls and Pitfalls in Adult and Pediatric Populations

There is no individual sign or symptom that can reliably exclude appendicitis in any patient. Appendicitis should be considered one diagnosis among a large differential. Concerning cases with a negative CT should be considered for admission. Radiation should be limited in children. Treatment may include antibiotics along with surgery.

practice updates

EM Cases: Lower Back Pain Emergencies

In this episode we go through seven cases that display the breadth of presentations of limb or life threatening causes of low back pain emergencies with my huge mentors, Dr. Walter Himmel and Dr. Brian Steinhart. We cover everything from spinal epidural abscess to cauda equina syndrome to retroperit...

FOAMED

Influenza Mimics: Pearls & Pitfalls

In the midst of flu season with patients flooding your ED with similar presentations, what else do you need to consider? This post examines mimics of the flu, with pearls and pitfalls.

practice updates

R.E.B.E.L. EM – Diagnosis of RV Strain with TTE

Abnormal vital signs are poor predictors of mortality associated with pulmonary embolism (PE). Diagnosis of PE and right ventricular (RV) strain with transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) however, has been well documented as a predictor for pending shock and significant in-hospital mortality.

Peds EM Morsels

Pediatric Rash

“Rash” seems to be a ubiquitous complaint some days in the Ped ED. Knowing that the skin is the largest organ, it seems only appropriate that we should take these complaints seriously. Unfortunately, often I feel a little inadequate when trying to decipher the code of the Pediatric Rash.