A review of bread and butter Emergency Medicine topics
You just spent the last three months on off-service rotations and you’re so relieved to be back home in your ED. You arrive 30 minutes early to your first shift and high five all the ED nurses, technicians, patient care assistants, the clerk, your attending, and the maintenance staff with Read more…
Working with kids can sometimes be great. They’re funny, adorable, have a lot of energy, and are always running around. Sometimes though, it’s not their legs that are running. Often, it’s their nose, and that’s okay. Other times, it’s their stomach and intestines, and that’s when things get a Read more…
It is a quiet morning in the ED. I know it’s difficult to believe. The triage nurse rolls in a young patient who is screaming in pain. “Doc, doc, my n@&* are killing me!” You can’t help but start thinking about a differential diagnosis on your way to interview your Read more…
Case: It’s your 5th straight night and your pediatric ED shift ends in one hour. A few stable patients came in during your shift, and you’re happy about that. No one wants kids to be sick. Your mind begins to wander. To be honest, the inner fat kid you’ve always Read more…
Faculty Reviewer: Sage Wiener, MD The Case It’s Saturday at 11:30 pm. You are just beginning your shift, when EMS rolls in accompanied by the NYPD. Their 24-year-old patient looks extremely sick and is moaning to you that he wants to die. He is asking about “little people” and Read more…
It’s the usual ED shift, when you see the next patient listed to be seen with a chief complaint of “Mechanism of Injury: Cyclist struck”. As you rehearse ATLS while approaching the stretcher, you encounter a young male in his 30s laying in pain on the stretcher clutching his chest, Read more…
It’s the end of a long shift in the ED, and you are daydreaming about the cold alcoholic beverage waiting for you to start off your golden weekend, when the nurse comes up to you and states there is a young woman in triage who she wants you to take Read more…
There are fewer patients that I appreciate more than the ones that come in with a list of their home medications. A quick scan through the list is helpful, as it provides insight into the severity of the patient’s medical problems. One class of medications that we are all often Read more…
Smruti Desai, DO/MPH It is one of your last shifts as an intern, and after a year of wondering if you will get any taller, you finally have the elusive factor known as a linear thought process. You confidently sit back in your chair with this thought, and take Read more…
This board review post will go over the basics of Radial Nerve Palsy. How does one get a radial nerve palsy? Contrary to what I previously thought, “Saturday-night palsy” rarely results from prolonged axilla compression. The classic story of an intoxicated person falling asleep with their arm draped over Read more…