Emergency Medicine Topics
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Evaluation and Treatment of Adrenal Insufficiency in the Emergency Department
This article addresses the pathophysiology, discusses various clinical presentations, and reviews current evidence-based practices for managing adrenal insufficiency and crisis in the emergency department.
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Transient Ischemic Attack
Recent research on transient ischemic attacks (TIA) has changed how emergency medicine providers evaluate and manage this sometimes difficult diagnosis. This article provides readers with current information and relevant studies pertaining to TIAs.
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Intimate Partner Violence
Domestic violence and abuse is a national and global healthcare problem with massive consequences, affecting men, women, and children. Awareness, recognition, and resource allocation, in addition to trauma management, is an important aspect of emergent care of the trauma patient possibly injured in a domestic violence incident.
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Making Sense of Delirium in the Emergency Department
Delirium is a complex disorder marked by the acute onset of mental status change with an associated fluctuating course. Despite the fact that delirium is a common clinical entity in elderly hospitalized patients, the condition may present in any patient regardless of medical comorbidities. Recognition within the emergency setting is becoming increasingly important, as the diagnosis frequently is missed.
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Code Melancholia: A Review of Depression for Emergency Physicians
Although the formal diagnosis of depression seldom is made in the emergency department (ED), emergency clinicians must understand the nature of depression and be prepared to deal with its complications, including suicidality and the toxicity of many antidepressant medications.
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Suicide Assessment and Disposition
During the past 20 years, suicide has become recognized as a major public health concern. Focused medical assessment and suicide risk assessment in the emergency department can help determine whether a mental health consultation is required and whether patients need hospitalization.
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High Altitude Medicine: A Review for the Practicing Emergency Physician
The recognition and treatment of high altitude illness is within the core content of emergency medicine practice. High altitude illness represents a spectrum of clinical entities, ranging from common and benign acute mountain sickness to life-threatening high altitude pulmonary edema and rare but potentially lethal high altitude cerebral edema.
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Management of Burn Injuries
Burn injuries are complex injuries that the acute care physician must be prepared to assess and manage. In addition, an understanding of potential systemic effects from inhalation of toxic components in fires is critical to guide management. The authors provide a timely review of the critical aspects of assessment and management of burn patients.
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The Influenza Virus: Winter Is Coming
Influenza is an acute respiratory illness responsible for significant seasonal epidemics each year. Despite commonly being a self-limited illness, the virus causes significant morbidity and mortality. During the winter months, emergency physicians should maintain a high suspicion for influenza in patients presenting with an acute febrile respiratory illness.
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Limb Ischemia and Gangrene
Although many cases of extremity pain are the result of mild, self-limited issues, ischemia and gangrene are catastrophic causes of pain that initially can present with nondescript findings. To limit tissue loss and optimize patient outcomes, emergency physicians must be able to distinguish benign limb pain from the earliest stages of high-risk, life- and limb-threatening disease.