Not a shift goes by in which a provider does not consider a pulmonary embolism (PE) as a possible diagnosis. No matter if you love or hate the D-dimer, it has become entrenched in the medical evaluation for PE! Unfortunately, at times providers are becoming reliant solely on a D-dimer test, when evaluating patients with the.. Read More

So, you diligently use PERC and Well’s and d-dimer and they were all positive on your patient who presented with chest pain and dyspnea.  You obtained a pulmonary CT angiogram and found a pulmonary embolism. Easy admission, right?  Well not so fast.  Your patient may be a candidate for outpatient treatment.  Who is tr.. Read More

Background

Each year, roughly 10,000 patients present to the Emergency Department in diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA).  Prior to the advent of insulin, the mortality rate of DKA was 100% although in recent years, that rate has dropped to approximately 5%.¹  Despite clinical advances, the mortality.. Read More

Ketamine is a well-established drug in anesthesia literature as it has been available for over 50 years.  Ketamine is a NMDA and glutamate receptor antagonist that has multiple pharmacologic mechanisms and characteristics making it an ideal agent for a growing number of indications.¹  Common uses include treatm.. Read More

The blog will offer a brief overview of some of the intranasal medications used in pediatric patients in the emergency department setting. Intravenous access may be a technically challenging and time consuming task in pediatric patients. Oral medication use may be limited by NPO status, poor taste, comparatively longer time.. Read More