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 […]

Anatomy First, we’ll refresh our bony anatomy to contextualize the radiographic images. The ankle is composed of the distal tibia and fibula and the superior talus, which is stabilized by several ligaments and the fibrous syndesmosis. The standard ankle radiographic series consists of the AP, mortise and lateral views. The AP View The Mortise View […]