Proper cane use

We give out canes like they’re candy.  But are we doing a good job adjusting the cane and teaching patients how to use them?  Canes that are not the right height for your patient or are being used incorrectly can put patients at an even gre…

Double Sequence No-no???

  You are the leader of the code team.  Your patient is in refractory VF after multiple rounds of shocks and drugs.  You’ve tried repositioning the pads into an anterior-posterior position.  Looking around, you ask for suggestions.  So…

Sedation Drugs

  It’s 1 am and things are winding down.  The trickle of patients has slowed and it actually looks like you and your team are catching up.  Suddenly, you hear yelling, swearing and crashes coming from triage.  Other patients are lookin…

Nose spray and hemodynamics

Ah, cold and flu season.  It’s that joyous time of year when our department is flooded with miserable people complaining of sinus headaches, rhinorrhea and feeling terrible.  We all know that for most viruses, symptomatic care is the way to…

Penicillin Allergy and Superbugs

  Penicillin allergy is a common finding in many patient charts.  Sometimes it can be difficult to figure out who, when and why this label was added to a medical record.  Sometimes patients themselves perpetuate the label, unwittingly…

Probiotics. Use them. Love them.

We all prescribe antibiotics frequently.  While the debate about who is contributing more to the terrifying antibiotic resistance patterns and the emergence of superbugs rages on, we can sometimes forget or minimize the fact that antibiotic…

Santa is Real. Here’s Proof.

Just kidding.  Happy Holidays, kids.   Follow Santa on his magical trek around the world: https://santatracker.google.com/village.html   Bonus: Want to know more about the Dreidel? https://www.chabad.org/holidays/chanukah/article_…

Concussion Recovery in Children

An otherwise healthy 11 year old boy is brought to the ED by his parent after “hitting his head pretty hard” during hockey practice.  The child was “out of it” for a little while but did not lose consciousness.  He seems foggy, complains of…

Doc, what if my head explodes?

It’s a busy Monday afternoon.  Patients are packed into the department like sardines.  You have bruises on your shins from trying to wade through the stretchers to discharge a few people, but now you’re back at the computer ready to pick up…

Zombie foot in need of repair

Imagine your patient is minding his or her own business when their foot gets crushed by a bus.  This totally hypothetical occurrence is only one of an infinite number of examples of situations that could result in a complex wound(s) needing…