Vigilance can be the most difficult part of our job. After being inundated with kids who have all started back to school and swapped their various viruses with one another and now have new fevers (after having just got…
Lumbar Punctures are commonly done in the Emergency Department and we have discussed several important issues pertaining to them in the past (Positioning, Variance of Analysis based on Age, and Neonatal HSV), but we have yet to discuss the most…
We often instruct with absolutes. “Never let the sun set on a pleural effusion.” “You’re not dead until you’re warm and dead.” “Never intubate an asthmatic.” Well, often medical decisions exist in a much less dichotomous realm. It is great…
The Morsels have focused a lot on pediatric dehydration topics in the past. We have covered the utility of Probiotics and the need to be vigilant against Hypoglycemia. We have discussed specific infections, like Salmonella, and whether antibiotics are necessary. …
We all care for many children who present with fever, nausea, and vomiting. Naturally, one of our first goals is to consider severe and life-threatening conditions and, fortunately, many times these are apparent on clinical exam. Unfortunately, certain patient populations,…
Over time we all become quite confident in our clinical exam, which is routinely justified. Occasionally, however, we do have to take a step back and ask ourselves whether our detective skills are refined enough to make the diagnosis all…
No one likes to be made to look like a fool, but overlooking the potential for hypoglycemia is a guaranteed way to cause you to facepalm yourself. Having been on the receiving end of the facepalm over missed hypoglycemia too…