Evaluating patients and developing a differential diagnosis list can be a slippery slope. Multiple cognitive errors (ex, premature closure, confirmation bias) are potentially just waiting to push you down that slope in the wrong direction. One region that can be…
Caring for children who present in distress is clearly challenging. There are innumerable conditions and entities to rapidly consider (ex, IEM, Heart Failure, Aortic Coarctation, Asthma, Hypoglycemia, Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia, Thyroid Storm, … Occult Abdominal Trauma) while deftly taking critical…
Soft tissue infections are commonly encountered when caring for children. From finger infections (Whitlow, Flexor Tenosynovitis) to faces (Periorbital cellulitis, Orbital cellulitis) and within pits and creases (Intertrigo, Perianal Strep), anywhere there is skin we may find an infection. Certainly,…
FEVER! It demands a lot of our attention when caring for children. Appropriately, it has also been baked into many delicious Morsels. Certainly, there are numerous Infectious Diseases to consider and, of course, there are concerns when we can’t discern…
There are many “medical myths” that require reconsideration from time to time (ex, cuffed ETTs). Some are less mythological and more misconceptions, misunderstandings, or just related to evolution of information and technology (ex, absorbable sutures for wound closure). This brings…
We know we must be vigilant! The constant search for clues for the covertly sick patient (ex, Leukemia in Neonates, Heart Failure, Pneumonia) has refined our vision and honed our intuition. That vigilance, however, can discover clues that we may…
Congratulations! You have made it successfully to 2021! While 2020 was challenging for EVERYONE, and may have required some brute force to endure, let us take this opportunity to consider avoiding using brute force (“Brutane“) when intubating our smallest of…
Ok, so maybe Homer has the wrong idea about “Fat Embolism”… I think he should be more worried about a devastating Food Impaction… but, with the Holidays upon us and the prevalence of fatty foods surrounding, me I began to…
We are always on the lookout for the big, bad, and ugly causes of our patients’ complaints in the Emergency Department. Someone has epistaxis and we think about bleeding disorders. If a patient is limping, we know it may be…
While we often consider the Emergency Department as being present only for “major” problems, we all know that our services go well beyond the critically ill and majorly injured. Often those “minor” issues can occupy a lot of our shift…
So it is Friday the 13th in the year 2020… and I awoke in a cold sweat concerned. Concerned about what you ask? (I mean it is still 2020, isn’t that enough to be concerned about on its own?) Concerned…
It seems that my patients teach me something new almost every clinical shift. Perhaps it is because I am getting older and have forgotten a lot. Maybe I have just seen more to ask questions about. I would like to…
