practice updates

When an emergency physician is faced with a scenario in which he or she does not believe a legal guardian is acting in a child’s best interests, further investigation and possibly action is required. In cases where the child’s health or safety are in question, temporary protective custody of a minor may be needed. This post evaluates several cases concerning this topic.

Interstitial lung disease refers to parenchymal and interstitial inflammation and fibrosis, and acute exacerbation can cause significant morbidity and mortality. Many conditions are associated with this, including those with an underlying systemic disorder, those with a known trigger, and those that are idiopathic in nature. This post provides key points on evaluation and management of ILD in the emergency department.

The combination of vancomycin and zosyn is commonly utilized in the ED for a variety of infections. However, recent literature suggests this combo may not always be needed. When should you use vanc/zosyn, and when is it not needed? This post will provide a background on the medications and evaluate indications for treatment and potential problems with their use.

Sepsis is a common disease, but sometimes, we need some assistance with the diagnosis and resuscitation of these patients. Can biomarkers help us, or are we wasting time using these measures? What’s wrong with just the time-honored history and exam?

There are certain diseases we see every day in the ED, including pneumonia, UTI, and cellulitis. A variety of antimicrobials exists, but what are the regimens that you must know for treating common infections in the ED? This post evaluates your “must know” regimens for treatment.

If you’re like us, chances are that you’ve encountered the difficulty in evaluating a patient in the emergency department after seizure-like activity. Read on, contained within we offer a number of pearls for assessing this unique patient population.

The decision between academic and community medicine can be difficult. Many who enter academic EM feel unprepared. This post discusses the difference between academic and community EM, and if you are interested in academic EM, pearls on succeeding in academics.

The patient with fever in the ED is a common occurrence. There are many etiologies for fever including non-infectious and infectious causes, some life-threatening. This post is full of pearls and pitfalls in the evaluation and management of patients with fever in the ED.

Well appearing patients who present to the emergency department (ED) rarely have serious disease. However, there are some conditions that can cause otherwise healthy patients to rapidly deteriorate. This article reviews a few conditions that can affect otherwise healthy patients and how to diagnose and treat these patients in the ED.

Welcome to Part 2 of the two-part series on surgical emergencies. This series discusses “cannot miss” diagnoses that require emergent surgical intervention. Today we discuss necrotizing fasciitis, testicular torsion, and ovarian torsion.