Wellness

Welcome! This is the website for the Mount Sinai Emergency Ultrasound Division. It serves as an information resource for residents, fellows, medical students and others seeking information about point-of-care ultrasound. There is a lot ofRead more

If you were on a tea & toast diet, how much water would you need to drink before you develop hyponatremia? I haven’t seen anyone work out the numbers before so here are my calculations. AndRead more

As alluded to in the first post, don’t be fooled by a “normal” potassium in the setting of DKA because osmotic diuresis and H+/K+ exchange means that total body potassium is actually LOW. You all knowRead more

the first symptom of hyperkalemia is death Earlier post covered temporizing measures to counter hyperkalemia — namely, intracellular shift, increasing cardiac myocyte threshold potential. Give furosemide if the patient still urinates and consider dialysis, but then askRead more

Previous post reviewed the safety of balanced crystalloids in hyper K. But what was up with serum bicarbonate decreasing with saline administration? This post introduces a new way of looking at the anion gap to possiblyRead more

Is it safe to give LR or plasmalyte to a hyperkalemic patient (these balanced crystalloids have 4-5 mEq/L K as opposed to 0 mEq/L K in normal saline)? Postponing the discussion of renal handling of potassium toRead more

You’ll likely encounter hyperkalemia on your next Resus / Cardiac shift, and you’ll instinctively treat it. But take a moment to review the fascinating physiology behind the “cocktail”! First, consider how K+ is buffered byRead more

You’re sitting in resus bemoaning the departure of your most beloved attending when suddenly a patient wheels in without warning. The patient looks relatively stable but the triage RN tells you her heart rate wasRead more

Acute otitis externa (AOE) is a common complaint seen in pediatric as well as adult emergency departments. AOE is typically not accompanied by acute otitis media, although concurrent cases are possible. Also called “swimmer’s ear”Read more