Pressors 101

By Lara Silverman, MD/MPH Emergency Medicine PGY3 Pressors are used in hypotension. Per Scott Weingart, there are three main reasons we use pressors:  Maintain critical perfusion pressors, especially to the brain, heart, and kidneys. B…

The Dangers of Hiccups!

Intro For the first pearl during our reign, I wanted to teach about the most dangerous thing I could think of. Hiccups. There are some dangerous etiologies out there so stay tuned. TR Pearls – <5 minutes – Often benign and se…

Unstable C-Spine Fractures

Intro You are working a BNT shift at Elmhurst and you pick up a patient who is complaining of neck pain after a fall. Do they need to be in a c-collar? Should you order a CT c-spine? What are the unstable c-spine injuries you are looking fo…

Chaotic Energy: A-fib RVR

Intro: You are at Elmhurst and it’s your first cardiac shift ever. EMS rolls in, “Hey Doc, this patient is in a-fib.” The patient’s heart is beating fast. Your heart is beating fast.  He is a 70 year old patient with a PMH of HTN, CKD, and…

MRI Basics

As the stellar EM provider that you are, you’ve probably gotten pretty great at independently reading CTs, XRs, and even formal ultrasounds at this point. But what about the mysterious MRI? You know your consults need them, the radiologist…

A can’t miss head CT finding

For today’s TR pearl, I’d like to take you back to January 2020, when covid was just a foreign virus and I was a fresh-faced intern, shadowing one of our recent grads, Dr. Sengupta in the cardiac room, along with Dr. Meyers. EMS…

Blood on the Dance Floor

We’ve all seen that movie where some old person coughs into a handkerchief and as the camera slowly pans away, there’s some blood stain. You know that guy isn’t making it to the end of the movie… Today, let’s t…