SBO you say? 6-infinity hours until dispo?! Sometimes it feels like you want to just rub a lamp and all your dispo decisions would be granted! Maybe it can!? Enter SBO and ultrasound! What are you looking for on US? (Westafer & Faust 20…
Chest tubes hurt…I imagine. And the few times I’ve done them (x2) I’ve wondered couldn’t that person have just gotten a pigtail?! What does the literature say? Voisin et al 2014 asked if large pneumothoraces (>2-3…
This case was brought to my attention by the wonderful Sam Schuberg. Impressively he drained a large pleural effusion in the ED offering his patient “Upstairs Care Downstairs”. He then brought to my attention that when dr…
First thing that probably comes to mind when you hear peripheral vasopressors is “when is this patient getting a central line (CVC)?” or “COWBOYS!” because as ED docs that is what we are and how else to express that…
The Stats: 350,000 out-of hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA)/209,000 in hospital cardiac arrests (IHCA) each year (2016) Majority of cases have a primary cardiac etiology with vfib as presenting rhythm So SHOCK IT!…..Surviv…
This Sept 2015 Annals of Surgery article made a splash when it first came out a year ago, and it came up again yesterday in conference. Here’s a refresher. FAST ultrasound examination as a predictor of outcomes after resuscitative tho…
We do a lot of diagnostic taps at our shop. People need to take better care of their livers. Here’s a tip for your next tap. I recently encountered a very obese cirrhotic patient who required a diagnostic tap. He had several very deep…
Today, instead of talking about tapping a joint to pull fluid out, we’re going to talk about tapping a joint to put fluid in. Methylene blue, in fact. The methylene blue joint injection test is a fast and simple bedside test that can…
When you come across peripheral intravascular air, take steps to minimize further entrainment of air and migration of air to the heart and lungs.
A middle-aged man presented to the ED with chest pain for the past 2 hours. This is his EKG. What’s your next move? If you look at the anterior leads, you’ll notice upsloping ST depressions and tall,…
