“Take a deep breath and hold it. Now without exhaling, try to breathe in again.” We were in the cardiac room, discussing a young man that had died a few hours before we came onto our shift. He had been brought in after he was found in the subway with albuterol inhalers all around him. […]

Tuberculosis in the ED Patient presents to Elmhurst ED with cough, hemoptysis, night sweats and fatigue – quick, what’s the first diagnosis that comes to mind? This is the classic presentation for tuberculosis. But several times now I have been surprised by less typical symptoms of TB. So I thought it might be helpful to […]

Sickle cell disease affects ~ 100,000 people in the US. Though pain is the most common ED presentation for patients with SCD, we should always consider life-threatening emergencies in this devastating and complicated disease.  Acute Chest Syndrome ACS is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with SCD. It’s caused by sickling in […]

Trauma is the leading cause of non-obstetric death in pregnant women. MVAs and intimate partner violence account for most cases.  Let’s first discuss the physiological changes to consider when managing a pregnant patient in a trauma. Management: Love, Julie Resources: https://www.uptodate.com/contents/initial-evaluation-and-management-of-major-trauma-in-pregnancy https://www.east.org/education-career-development/practice-management-guidelines/details/pregnancy-and-trauma https://www.jogc.com/article/S1701-2163(15)30232-2/pdf https://www.ajog.org/article/s0002-9378(13)00068-9/fulltext http://www.emdocs.net/resuscitation-of-the-pregnant-trauma-patient-pearls-pitfalls/

Let’s talk about managing expectations. You can do this with almost everyone/everything in your life, your goal being to under sell, over deliver. Some, not all, patients think that when they walk through these hallowed doors, that they’re walking into a place of truth and all-knowing information. They don’t realize the ED is more like a […]