Do you routinely perform large volume (or near large volume) paracentesis in your ED? If so, you need to know about a potentially life-threatening complication of this procedure...
A 34 year old Vietnamese male presents with complaint of neck swelling. It began one month ago and worsened over the past few days. He endorses fatigue and a mild weight loss. Exam shows an indurated, non mobile mass without tenderness or erythema. You order imaging and are concerned for TB but unsure what to do next.
A 45 year old man with PMHx of HTN presents with chief complaint of chest pain for 15 minutes after shoveling snow. His vital signs and physical exam are unremarkable. A 12 lead ECG is obtained...
So you think your young, healthy, sexually active patient with a painful joint and weird skin findings might have disseminated gonococcal infection or gonococcal arthritis…but you’re not sure of the difference between the two. Is there a difference? Then you wonder how to properly diagnosis and treat such an illness.
Tranexamic Acid! It seems everywhere we look there are people touting TXA as the next miracle drug. This post introduces the clinical applications of TXA and the evidence supporting its use.
A 34 yo female with a history of trigeminal neuralgia presented to the Emergency Department with a chief complaint of 5 days of severe, worsening paroxysms of pain in the left trigeminal nerve distribution. The pain was refractory to carbamazepine and gabapentin. Neurology was consulted and an unconventional therapy was recommended.
You are intubating a sick patient in the ED via direct laryngoscopy. After opening the airway, sweeping the tongue with your blade, inserting into the vallecula, and lifting at the precisely correct angle your eyes behold....well...not the vocal cords! Maybe the arytenoid cartilages if you're lucky (aka Cormack Lehane 3 or 4 view). But wait, you aren't finished yet! You reach into your back pocket and remove your trusty bougie...
Independently interpreting plain film imaging is an essential skill for the Emergency Medicine provider. Among the most notorious of injuries likely to be missed is the Maisonneuve fracture. In this post we demonstrate the "can't miss" imaging findings to ensure that you don't make the mistake of thinking this is "just an ankle sprain!"
Does skin glue in addition to standard of care reduce failure rates of peripheral guided IV lines? Failure defined by infection, thrombosis, phlebitis, dislogement.
In this video, Cooper Emergency Medicine Residency graduate and current ultrasound fellow at Hennepin County Mark Robidoux demonstrates a few tips and tricks to quickly become a pro in ultrasound guided angiocath insertion (with a little help from Cooper Assistant to the Program Director and volunteer pincushion Rich Byrne)
