Helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) offers rapid transport to trauma centers while simultaneously providing advanced prehospital care. It is through these reasons that HEMS carries a survival benefit over ground emergency medical services (GEMS). However, increasing financial burdens and aviation risks to flight crews/patients complicate the decision to transport a patient by HEMS.
Do you sound like a first year medical student when discussing hand injuries by phone with consultants? Forget all the tendon anatomy you crammed for in anatomy? FDP? FDS? FPL? Then check out this post for a "Back to Basics" online hand exam lecture by Dr. Fred Heckler from UPMC.
Case: A 15 year old girl flipped while snowboarding and landed on her right arm. She complains of severe right wrist pain. A plain film of the wrist is obtained:
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!"
Case: 24 year old male with no significant past medical history presents to local urgent care with chief complaint of left knee pain. Patient reports playing basketball just prior to arrival and reports landing on left knee and "jamming it."
Visual diagnosis from EMDaily!
Following a severe brain injury the goal of the clinician is to prevent secondary brain injury. This entails increasing oxygen delivery to the brain by preventing hypoxia and increasing cerebral perfusion. Hyperosmolar therapy, including mannitol and hypertonic saline, is often used to decrease ICP.
Lacerations of the tongue often require special consideration considering the tongue's anatomic location and functional importance. Repair of tongue lacerations are often plagued by patient intolerance and inadequate anesthesia of the area. This posts aims to introduce the basics of management of tongue lacerations.
Managing Tongue Lacerations:
Your patient in the Emergency Department has a Zone II or Zone III finger amputation which requires primary closure of the wound prior to discharge with appropriate outpatient follow up. However, a protruding piece of bone often prevents closure of the skin flap and requires trimming by using a rongeur. While this process is typically carried out by an orthopedic or hand surgical consultant, this post aims to introduce the use of a ronguer during management of finger amputation in the Emergency Department.
