Emergency Medical Minute

Contributor:  Gretchen Hinson, MD Educational Pearls: Three episodes of ventricular tachycardia within 24 hours or two episodes back-to-back Treat with IV amiodarone and IV beta-blockers initially as well as IV lidocaine Correct underlying causes:  IV magnesium for QT prolongation Replete potassium in hypokalemia Urgent revascularization in ischemia For refractory vtach, urgent radiofrequency abla...

Contributor: Donald Stader, MD Educational Pearls: Opioids target kappa and NMDA receptors that can lead to central nervous system sensitization and therefore increased pain For patients with opioid-induced hyperalgesia (OIH), oral ketamine (25-50 mg) can be used to treat their pain as it targets the NMDA receptor Other treatments is IV magnesium, NSAIDs, tylenol, and clonidine Buprenorphine and m...

Contributor:  Aaron Lessen, MD Educational Pearls: Recent study looked at whether lactated ringers might be a better choice for fluid resuscitation in patients with DKA compared to normal saline Normal saline can cause a hyperchloremic metabolic acidosis Time to resolution of acidosis was 4 hours less with lactated ringers compared to normal saline Time on an insulin drip decreased by about 4 hour...

Contributor:  Jared Scott, MD Educational Pearls: About ½ of the patients in the ED present with some form of pain One study looked at patients presenting in pain and followed up two days after discharge to determine if their pain was addressed, asking if the patient received anything for pain and if the patient refused pain medication Non-analgesic pain management: About 30% discordance between p...

Contributor:  Peter Bakes, MD Educational Pearls: Incidence 2.5-10 per million people occurring primarily in those with environmental allergens Typically occurs with mRNA vaccines in lipid nanoparticles (Moderna/Pfizer) rather than the adenovirus vaccine (J&J) Recommendation is to forego 2nd dose of the mRNA vaccine and instead get the adenovirus vaccine after weighing the risks and benefits Refer...

Contributor:  Jared Scott, MD Educational Pearls: 1-3 cases of rabies per year in US with 55,000 people per year receiving rabies prophylaxis 90% of rabies cases come from wildlife, most commonly by racoons, bats, foxes, and skunks Because of rabies prophylaxis, domesticated pets almost never have rabies in the United States Rabies is typical transmitted via a bite, but direct contact with saliva...

Contributor:  Alicia Oberle, MD Educational Pearls: Down Syndrome with Trisomy 21 have three copies of chromosome 21 Current birth rates are around 1 in 700 births  Average life span 25 years in 1980, today the average life span is 60 years of age Patients with Down syndrome require additional therapies in the first 3 years due to developmental delays They also have increased risk for childhood le...

This week's episode features a fascinating conversation with Dr. Nadia Tremonti, medical director for the pediatric palliative care program at Children's Hospital of Michigan in Detroit. Dr. Tremonti was the featured physician in an independent short film Palliative and subsequent New York Times shorter excerpt Dying in your Mother's Arms that explore her work with terminally ill pediatric patient...

Contributor:  Aaron Lessen, MD Educational Pearls: Droperidol for sedation in agitated patients in the emergency department was studied compared to ziprasidone (Geodon) and lorazepam (Ativan) Double-blinded RCT showed droperidol was 65% effective to get patients to a good level of sedation in 15 minutes compared to ativan and geodon which were 25-35% effective Droperidol had less respiratory depre...

Contributor:  Ricky Dhaliwal, MD Educational Pearls: Primarily affects children

Contributor:  Ricky Dhaliwal, MD Educational Pearls: Rhabdomyolysis occurs when high levels of myoglobin are released from dying muscle tissue into the blood Severe levels of myoglobin cause renal injury Causes include elevated temperature, excessive exercise, toxins, infection, muscle ischemia, crush injury, and prolonged immobilization Can also be caused by medications, like antipsychotics, stat...

Contributor:  Aaron Lessen, MD Educational Pearls: Study in NEJM looked at occult hypoxemia, when oxygen saturation reads at >92% when the actual saturation is

Contributor:  Peter Bakes, MD Educational Pearls: Febrile Seizure clinical criteria 6 months - 5 years of age Rapid rise in temp No preexisting seizure disorder No other explanation for the seizure Nonfocal seizure lasting less than 15 minutes If the seizure does not meet the above criteria, a full workup needs to be completed Regardless of cause, treat the seizure with IV/IO benzodiazepines or IN...

Contributor:  Aaron Lessen, MD Educational Pearls: Acid and alkali ingestions have differing prognosis and immediate concerns Immediate issues can include superficial irritation, severe burns, esophageal perforation, and even airway compromise from edem Long term morbidity can include strictures Supportive care is typically all that can be provided in the emergency department Diagnostics may inclu...

Contributor:  Peter Bakes, MD Educational Pearls: Lyme disease gives a single expanding target lesion with central clearing called erythema chronicum migrans Erythema multiforme is another targetoid rash that presents with multiple target lesions Characterized into erythema minor and major based on severity but typically resolves More severe hypersensitivity reactions include Stevens-Johnson Syndr...

Contributor: Adam Barkin, MD Educational Pearls: Fever is an adaptive response to infection, but elderly and immunocompromised patients may not be able to mount a hyperthermic response in sepsis Patients with fever in sepsis end up receiving treatment earlier and have better outcomes Hypothermic patients with severe sepsis admitted to the ICU had a 32% mortality versus 21% mortality in those who h...

Contributor:  Aaron Lessen, MD Educational Pearls: Survey study compared depression symptom prevalence in the United States at the beginning of COVID compared to data acquired by a similar survey for 2017-2018 and found it was three-fold higher Mild symptoms: 25% during pandemic; 16% before Moderate: 15% during pandemic; 6% before Moderately Severe symptoms: 8% during pandemic; 2% before Severe sy...

Contributor:  Ricky Dhaliwal, MD, JD Educational Pearls: Glucagon administered intravenously has a high rate of adverse events (nausea/vomiting) with very weak evidence NItroglycerin too has very limited evidence but a much better adverse event profile Mix 0.4 mg (1 sublingual tablet) nitro in 10 mL of water and administer orally Nothing beats upper endoscopy for effectiveness but in settings wher...

Contributor:  Jared Scott, MD Educational Pearls: While it is rare to have a native hip dislocation, it is relatively common to dislocate a prosthetic hip The mechanism for dislocation is usually adduction, flexion, and internal rotation the hip which can occur when walking Arthroplasty in the setting of trauma or fracture, posterior approach during surgery, and using a small femoral head increase...

A heartfelt excerpt from our most recent UnfilterED episode with Dr. Don Stader.

Contributor:  Katie Sprinkel, MD Educational Pearls: Hereditary angioedema (HA) is an autosomal dominant bradykinin-mediated disease affecting the airway, skin or gastrointestinal tract and typically presents with swelling in the absence of pruritus HA episodes last 3-5 days, typically occur first in childhood or adolescence, and decrease in frequency with aging Airway angioedema is the most dange...

Contributor:  Katie Sprinkel, MD Educational Pearls: Psychogenic Non-Epileptic Seizures (PNES) are due to a psychogenic rather than an epileptic cause Despite common assumption, PNES are not always volitional  20-40% of those with PNES can also have true epileptic seizures 20-40% True diagnosis requires a video EEG  Characteristics of PNES include: Waxing and waning of the seizure intensity Eyes c...

High in the mountains of Colorado, a crew of unsuspecting docs stumble upon the EMS scene of a head-on collision after an arduous mountain bike ride. Trauma is a Journey is a four part rural trauma mini series that recounts this tale as this group springs into action to assist the EMS crews dealing with two critical patients. Elizabeth Esty hosts a panel discussion with the key players: Dr. Dylan...

High in the mountains of Colorado, a crew of unsuspecting docs stumble upon the EMS scene of a head-on collision after an arduous mountain bike ride. Trauma is a Journey is a four part rural trauma mini series that recounts this tale as this group springs into action to assist the EMS crews dealing with two critical patients. Elizabeth Esty hosts a panel discussion with the key players: Dr. Dylan...

High in the mountains of Colorado, a crew of unsuspecting docs stumble upon the EMS scene of a head-on collision after an arduous mountain bike ride. Trauma is a Journey is a four part rural trauma mini series that recounts this tale as this group springs into action to assist the EMS crews dealing with two critical patients. Elizabeth Esty hosts a panel discussion with the key players: Dr. Dylan...