Contributor: Travis Barlock MD Educational Pearls: Wide-complex tachycardia is defined as a heart rate > 100 BPM with a QRS width > 120 milliseconds Wide-complex tachycardia of supraventricular origin is known as SVT with aberrancy Aberrancy is due to bundle branch blocks Mostly benign Treated with adenosine or diltiazem Wide-complex tachycardia of ventricular origin is…
Read MoreContributor: Aaron Lessem MD Educational Pearls: Oseltamivir (Tamiflu) is an antiviral medication used commonly to treat influenza Trials show that the medication reduces the duration of illness by less than 1 day (~16 hours in one systematic review) Benefit only occurs if taken within 48 hours of symptom onset Must be taken for 5 days…
Read MoreContributor: Aaron Lessen MD Educational Pearls: Opioid overdoses that are reversed with naloxone (Narcan), a mu-opioid antagonist, can precipitate acute withdrawal in some patients Treatment of opioid use disorder with buprenorphine can also precipitate withdrawal Opioid withdrawal symptoms include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and agitation Buprenorphine works as a partial agonist at mu-opioid receptors, which may…
Read MoreContributor: Aaron Lessen MD Educational Pearls: Lorazepam (Ativan) is dosed at 0.1 mg/kg up to a maximum of 4 mg in status epilepticus Some ED protocols only give 2 mg initially The maximum recommended dose of levetiracetam (Keppra) is 60 mg/kg or 4.5 g In one retrospective study, only 50% of patients received the correct…
Read MoreContributor: Travis Barlock MD Educational Pearls: Ketamine is an NMDA receptor antagonist with a wide variety of uses in the emergency department. To dose ketamine remember the numbers 0.3, 1, and 3. Pain dose For acute pain relief administer 0.3 mg/kg of ketamine IV over 10-20 minutes (max of 30 mg). Note: There is evidence…
Read MoreContributor: Travis Barlock MD Educational Pearls: Thrombolytic therapy (tPA or TNK) is often used in the ED for strokes Use of anticoagulants with INR > 1.7 or PT >15 Warfarin and heparin increase INR Factor Xa inhibitors like apixaban (Eliquis) and rivaroxaban (Xarelto) increase prothrombin time Intracranial or intraspinal surgery in the last 3 months…
Read MoreContributor: Meghan Hurley MD Educational Pearls: What is a nerve block? A nerve block is the medical procedure of injecting anesthetic into the area around a nerve to block pain signals. They are typically done with ultrasound guidance. Are nerve blocks effective? Most of the information we have about nerve blocks is extrapolated from fascia…
Read MoreContributor: Jorge Chalit, OMS II Educational Pearls: Migraine pathophysiology Primarily mediated through the trigeminovascular system Serotonin, dopamine, and calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) Trigeminovascular system is linked to the trigeminal nucleus caudalis, which relays pain to the hypothalamus and cerebral cortex One effective treatment for acute migraines is -triptan medications 5-HT1D/1B agonists such as sumatriptan Often…
Read MoreContributor: Aaron Lessen MD Educational Pearls: How is the severity of a stroke assessed? Strokes are assessed by the NIH Stroke Scale (NIHSS), this scale has different tasks, such as asking the person to repeat words, move their arms, or follow simple instructions. The maximum score is 42 but any score over 21 is considered…
Read MoreContributor: Jared Scott MD Educational Pearls: Should we use opioids to treat low back and neck pain? The OPAL Trial, published in The Lancet, in June 2023, attempted to answer this very question. Objective: Investigate the efficacy and safety of a short course of opioid analgesic (oxycodone-naloxone) for acute low back pain and neck pain….
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