June 25, 2019
Studies have shown that 5-10% of all visits to the Emergency Department are for ‘abdominal pain’. This is not an easily algorithmable complaint, as the workup must be individualized based on history and physical examination. Even after a thorough workup and with a clear diagnosis,
May 17, 2019
Here’s an excerpt from How to Not Kill Your Patients, a collection of interesting stories, cases, and advice for those who work in the ER: A 70 year-old woman presents to the ER with mid-sternal chest pain, shortness of breath, and diaphoresis. She’s clutching her
April 22, 2019
Hot off the press of the latest issue of Emergency Physicians Monthly, the brilliant Dr. Arshad and the handsome me have an article on the Measles outbreak. Amazingly, in the few weeks since this article was published, the number of cases has grown from 159
March 12, 2019
Appendicitis is the most common surgical emergency in the United States. Nearly 9% of all men and 7% of all women will be afflicted at some point in their life. Despite this ubiquity, there are countless pitfalls one can encounter before reaching the diagnosis and
January 24, 2019
Here’s the true story of a really unfortunate side effect from a very common medication. Remember that anyone can learn from their own mistakes, but a wise person learns from others’ mistakes. A man was working onboard a cruise ship as a waiter when he
December 29, 2018
Don’t confuse the ‘knee’ for the ‘knee-cap’! There are a select few indications for getting an orthopedist to come to the ED in the middle of the night, but a true knee dislocation might be one of them. I remember being an ER resident on
December 5, 2018
There’s an old saying that tries to sum up the essence of Emergency Medicine: “know a little bit about everything rather than everything about a little bit”. While the purpose of an emergency room may have started out well-intentioned, as a place to stabilize and
November 20, 2018
Here’s something that should come as a shock to no one: bouncebacks are dangerous. Patients are distressed or ill enough to feel that whatever was done for them the first time, wasn’t enough. Beyond just managing patient expectations, you have to ask yourself: “What could
