Offensive medicine: CT before LP
I’m getting worn down by clinicians – often other specialists – who insist that CT imaging of the brain is […]
Acute Med, All Updates, Guidelines, ICU, Kids, Resus
diagnosis
Acute Med, All Updates, ICU, Kids, Resus
Salicylate poisoning and pseudohyperchloraemia
Severe salicylate poisoning can cause metabolic acidosis from an accumulation of salicylic acid, lactic acid, and ketone bodies. A high […]
Acute Med, All Updates, ICU, Kids, PHARM, Resus, Trauma
Capillary refill time
A review of capillary refill time (CRT) reveals some interesting details about this test: CRT is affected by age – […]
All Updates, PHARM, Resus, Trauma
Surgeons and trauma teams
There can be issues associated with calling surgeons to trauma team activations in the ED, including interruption to the surgeon’s […]
All Updates, ICU, Resus, Ultrasound
Ultrasound to detect difficult laryngoscopy
A pilot study suggests sonographic measurements of neck soft tissue thickness may predict difficult laryngoscopy. Laryngoscopy was difficult in patients […]
Acute Med, All Updates, ICU, Resus
Early CT may rule out subarachnoid haemorrhage
A multicentre Canadian study challenges the practice of routine lumbar puncture after negative CT in patients with suspected subarachnoid haemorrhage. […]
Acute Med, All Updates, Guidelines, Resus
What do I do with a high sensitivity troponin?
Newer high-sensitivity troponin tests can be positive in patients who would have negative tests with the ‘traditional’ assay, which can […]
All Updates, PHARM, Resus, Trauma, Ultrasound
Open book fractures and ultrasound
For me, this is one of those ‘why didn’t I think of that?!’ studies… extending the FAST scan to measure […]
All Updates, Resus, Trauma, Ultrasound
E-FAST for pneumothorax
Some further evidence of the superiority of ultrasound over chest x-ray for the detection of pneumothorax (although it’s not perfect): […]
All Updates, Kids
CRP helpful in risk stratifying febrile kids
In febrile children, peripheral white blood cell counts were not helpful in separating children with self limiting infections from those […]