A review of bread and butter Emergency Medicine topics
It’s Friday night in Central Brooklyn, and it’s your 6th night shift in a row. It’s surprisingly quiet in the critical care/resuscitation unit, and that notification phone still hasn’t rung. Just when you sit down, corner deli coffee in hand, trying to figure out if it’s actually Friday or Saturday, Read more…
During a slow morning in the pediatric emergency department last week, I decided to pass the time scrolling through puppy pictures on behalf of National Puppy Day. By page 98,3457 of a Google image search for “puppies,” I imagine a dog barking on the other side of the ED. I Read more…
It is 4 AM in the morning and a 50 year-old male is next to be seen in the emergency department. You think to yourself, what can possibly compel this patient to leave the warm comforts of his bed to come to the ED in the dead of night? Chest pain? Belly pain and vomiting? Either way, you have your treatment algorithm ready in your head until he throws you a curveball. “Hey doc, I got these hiccups I just cannot get rid of…”
An 87-year-old male was brought in by EMS from a nursing home for altered mental status. As per nursing home’s staff, the patient has been less responsive since yesterday. No fever or change in medication was reported. You are not able to get a hold of the patient’s primary care Read more…
Case: 44 year-old female gets wheeled into the critical care area in respiratory distress. Through gasping breaths of inspiratory stridor, she says this started one hour ago while at home, mentioning she was getting “aggravated” with her husband. Her husband endorses that this has happened before in similar situations. She Read more…
A 25 year-old male is brought into the emergency room after an argument about whether Tom Brady is the “Greatest Of All Time” turned into fistacuffs. He is alert, oriented, slightly intoxicated, and has visible injuries including a black eye, a missing tooth, and abrasions throughout his arms and legs. You ask him how he is feeling. He flashes a toothy smile, raises his fist (revealing a few small cuts), and replies, “You should take a look at the other guy.” (more…)
A 21 year-old male presents to your ED with complaints of fever, rash, and generalized malaise. His triage vitals are HR 112, BP 95/55, RR 22, POx 98%, T 102.3F. When you go into the room to exam him, you notice a tampon in his right naris. When you ask Read more…
A previously healthy 3 year-old boy was brought in by his mom who reported pink urine after visiting his grandmother over the Christmas break. Review of systems is otherwise negative. The patient has no medical history and does not take any medications. He is well-appearing and afebrile. The physical exam is Read more…
New year, new beginnings, and new resolve. A 31 year-old slightly overweight male visits the emergency department a week after New Years with a chief complaint of muscle soreness. He had recently attended a soulcycle session with his girlfriend as part of his new year’s resolution to lose some of his winter weight. The next day he was extremely sore (more than expected) and started to have dark urine (not expected). Our enthusiastic exerciser has rhabdomyolysis.
It’s Christmas Eve, and you walk in to the ED wishing for a silent night. You get settled in, and you see “Clause, Santa- 1746 yo M wrist pain” show up on your board. Apparently, Rudolph found his way into the spiked eggnog, and Santa had some difficulty getting Read more…