Contributor: Ramnik Dhaliwal, MD JD Educational Pearls: Pepper spray is a highly irritating compound with active ingredient of capsaicin Techniques to help decontaminate and alleviate symptoms of an exposure include: Disrobing the patient to prevent further exposure Half milk of magnesia and half water mixture can be used to soothe the skin in the…
Read MoreContributor: Neil Cella, MD Educational Pearls: Pylorus becomes hypertrophied and does not allow food or liquid to pass through to the duodenum Occurs between the ages of 3 weeks to 3 months Classic presentation includes projectile nonbilious vomiting and palpable abdominal mass Ultrasound can visualize/diagnose pyloric stenosis and the treatment is surgical correction Be…
Read MoreContributor: Adam Barkin, MD Educational Pearls: Multi-center open-label non-inferiority trial looked at treatment of pneumothorax with a small-bore chest tube versus conservative management with exceptional follow up 316 patients ages 14-50 with moderate to large pneumothorax (>32% measured on CXR) were randomized into one of the two treatment arms 15% of the conservative group required…
Read MoreContributor: Randi Libbon, MD The Core features of trauma-informed care include: Patient empowerment, choice and collaboration. This means educating patients and allowing patients to make choices about their care when possible. Collaboration helps to level the power differential between patients and providers through shared decision making. Safety and sensitivity: Developing health care settings and activities…
Read MoreContributor: Neil Cella, MD Educational Pearls: <29 day old well-appearing febrile infant: 10% of patients <29 days old with a fever (>100.4) have an serious bacterial infection Most of these are UTIs, but also consider pneumonia and meningitis Requires CXR, LP, labs, and UA to work up cause of fever 29-60 day old well-appearing febrile…
Read MoreContributor: Aaron Lessen, MD Educational Pearls: Known risk factors for being awake and paralyzed in the OR include only receiving IV medications, long-acting paralytics, and no formal monitoring system for being awake The ED-AWARENESS study, a prospective single-center study found 2.6% of patients with induced paralysis during mechanical ventilation were aware Rocuronium was a risk…
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stemi or stemi mimic? that is the question Chief Complaint: Chest Pain HPI 24-year-old male with no past medical history presents to the ER with left-sided chest pain since 7 AM. The pain started while he was riding his bike, reliably when his heart rate was above 130 on self-monitoring. He reports pain then radiated…
Read MoreContributor: Aaron Lessen, MD Educational Pearls: Recent retrospective cohort study looked at elevated BP readings in the ED and correlation to underlying hypertension Large cohort of over 30,000 patients found that nearly 50% had an elevated blood pressure reading in the ED Less than 15% of patients with elevated BP readings in the ED were…
Read MoreContributor: Aaron Lessen, MD Educational Pearls: Recent RCT compared pain relief in patients receiving five medications for acute musculoskeletal pain Acetaminophen 1000mg/ibuprofen 400 mg Acetaminophen 1000mg/ibuprofen 800 mg Acetaminophen 300 mg/codeine 30 mg Acetaminophen 300mg/hydrocodone 5mg Acetaminophen 325mg/oxycodone 5mg No significant difference in pain relief at 1 and 2 hours between all of 5 groups…
Read MoreContributor: Aaron Lessen, MD Educational Pearls: Traditionally, fingernails were replaced after avulsion using sutures Sometimes artificial material was placed when the fingernail was not available Recent study evaluated treatment of fingernail avulsions pediatric patients by replacing the nail versus cleaning and putting a non-adhesive dressing No difference in the aesthetics or patient satisfaction with the…
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