Scenario: The images from your patient’s non-contrast head CT are finally uploaded and it looks negative. Unfortunately, your patient has been having severe symptoms for almost 24 hours and you know this single study is not sensitive…
In honor of 5/20/16, a day in which the Sinai ED managed three cardiac arrest patients in less than one hour, I wanted to post a pearl relevant to one of the cases we saw. Our initial goal during a Vfib arrest resuscitation is to optimize u…
The WHO declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on February 1st, 2016 due to the outbreak of microcephaly and Guillain-Barre Syndrome cases associated with the Zika virus. Here’s a quick review of what we do and do…
I could bullet point plenty of statistics, but I don’t think I have to convince you: there is an opioid epidemic and it is getting worse. We all have treated patients for opioid overdose in the ED. We also frequently identi…
Lets be honest: whether you like it or not, it’s a rare day working in the ED when you don’t guaiac someone. To “guaiac them” is of course slang for performing a point of care fecal occult blood test. Its a valuable tool and can…
Here’s an EKG you may never have seen before. Only slightly frightening, right? The rate is tachycardic and the width of the QRS tells you that it is coming from below the AV node. The defining feature here is that the QRS complex…
Once you understand the basic functions of the components of your arterial line set-up and know how to position it properly the next level of mastery involves spotting other errors and optimizing them. If you notice that your pulse pressure…
Arterial lines can provide accurate, real-time information on your patient’s blood pressure. They can be vital in cases where you want to trend precise blood pressure goals or where BP cuffs are producing incongruous measurements in…