Emergency Medicine Topics
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‘Doc, I Can’t See’: The Emergency Medicine Approach to Acute Atraumatic Vision Loss
This article will discuss the various emergent causes of vision loss, including necessary diagnostic testing, imaging, and needed interventions and consultations. Most importantly, emergency medicine clinicians must be sensitive to the goal of restoration and preservation of as much vision as possible.
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Concussion Assessment in the Emergency Department with an Emphasis on Sports-Related Injury
The body of research regarding concussions has broadened dramatically in recent years. This expanded medical knowledge has led to changes in the recommended treatment of concussion. It is important for emergency medicine physicians to be well versed in the recognition and management of concussion in the emergency department, as well as potential complications and long-term sequelae of this condition.
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Constipation: Adult and Pediatric Considerations
Constipation is a common diagnosis in the emergency department (ED) that has been steadily increasing in prevalence over the past several decades. As the morbidity and healthcare costs from this condition increase, it is important that ED physicians be aware of the workup, management, and potential complications of this common condition in adults and children alike.
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Hypothermia and Frostbite
Hypothermia is a medical emergency that requires immediate attention and correction. For patients with environmental exposures, especially freezing ambient temperatures, cold water, snow, and ice, frostbite injuries are of significant concern.
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Falls in Older Adults
Falls cause significant morbidity and mortality among older adult patients compared to younger patients. When treating a patient who has fallen, the emergency medicine physician should identify traumatic injuries and evaluate for medical pathology contributing to the fall, as well as manage the patient.
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Scarlet Fever and Invasive Streptococcal Disease
While most physicians are familiar with the common presentations of streptococcal infections (e.g., pharyngitis, impetigo), it is important to recognize the carrier state, learn management of common complications (e.g., peritonsillar abscess), and identify the potentially serious, and perhaps deadly, complications and invasive infections.
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Envenomations Update
This article will give an overview of medically important non-marine envenomations in the United States, including their clinical manifestations, treatment, and disposition.
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Ketamine: Old Drug, New Uses
Ketamine is a dissociative medication, the only one in its class. Most commonly used as a general anesthetic, it permits patients to tolerate acutely uncomfortable procedures while maintaining most brainstem function, such as breathing and perfusion.
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Diagnosis and Management of Acute Heart Failure in the Emergency Department
This article will focus on the care of patients with acute heart failure in the emergency department, reviewing new onset and decompensation of chronic heart failure, discussing heart failure classification based on clinical presentation, and providing updated recommendations on management and disposition from the emergency department.
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Novel Psychoactive Substances of Abuse: Part II
This is the second of a two-part series. Part I reviewed stimulants and started the discussion of hallucinogens and psychedelics. Part II will finish the discussion of hallucinogens and conclude with novel sedative drugs.