Category 2014 Morsels

Sinusitis

The ART of medicine is much more difficult to learn than the science of medicine; however, it is through becoming comfortable with the “grey areas” that we often experience our greatest ability to help others.  It is also what prevents…

Umbilical Granuloma

It is easy to fall into a potentially callous mindset in the Emergency Department – “If it isn’t an emergency, then it can wait to see the Primary.”  While that may be a valid statement, it won’t win you any…

Delayed Diagnosis of Aspirated Foreign Body

We all know kids love to get objects stuck in areas where no foreign body should be. We have discussed this several times (the Nasal Foreign Body, the Ear Foreign Body, and the Ingested Foreign Body), but the Aspirated Foreign…

Ear Foreign Body

Without question, kids will put the oddest objects into their orifices… and then say that they don’t know how they got there.  While this can lead to same comic relief to your otherwise stressful shift, managing a foreign body can…

Recurrent Croup

Once again, a common theme of the Morsels is a need for vigilance. Unfortunately, sometimes those seemingly straight forward cases of vomiting in fact are due to an Inborn Error of Metabolism and it requires our vigilance to make the diagnosis.…

ALTE in Neonate

Something that is certainly unique about the practice of emergency medicine is the approach to problems from the “worst first” perspective.  Now, generally, I would consider myself as someone who minimizes testing and prefers to spend a few extra minutes…

Tick Paralysis

Ascending paralysis naturally evokes concern for Guillain-Barre syndrome, but one entity that should be on your differential and requires special action is Tick Paralysis.  Let’s take a minute to refresh our memories about this interesting and important condition. Presentation Prodrome…