Jonathan Singer

Emergency physician intershift handovers: an analysis of our transitional care.

The emergency department intershift transfer of patient care is a universal event. Despite the frequency of its occurrence and complexity of issues surrounding the exchange, emergency department patient handover is insufficiently explored in our literature. This article reviews the effectiveness and efficiencies of the handover practice. The authors provide personal opinion regarding favorable parameters for the prehandover, intershift meeting, and posthandover activities.

Management of toxic exposure in children

Millions of children ingest household products and medications yearly. The continuous proliferation of new products and pharmaceutic agents makes it difficult for physicians to maintain a current command of toxicologic information. Multiple sources, including poison control centers, can provide information; however, EPs must be familiar with several agents that are either significant for their frequency or for their disproportionate potential for morbidity and mortality in pediatric patients. With this select group of intoxicants, physicians must anticipate cardiovascular and pulmonary instability and rapid changes in central nervous system functioning. Appropriate supportive care requires monitoring of the following: vital signs, level of consciousness, airway control, ventilation and circulatory support, body temperature, urine output, and acid base balance. Once these concerns are addressed, prevention of further absorption, enhancing a products elimination, and treatment with specific antidotes may enhance supportive care. Care is also likely to be enhanced if the EP recognizes the inherent differences (medically and socially) between adults and children of various ages. Definitive emergency care is completed only after the provision of a developmentally oriented preventive strategy.

A fatal case of colic.

The potential causes of excessive, prolonged crying in early infancy represent a broad range of conditions. The underlying etiology causing an acute episode of crying may not be recognized in a single emergency department encounter. An adverse outcome may result when an infant with unexplained crying is discharged with a diagnosis of colic.

Management strategy for penetrating oropharyngeal injury.

Direct force applied to an object held in the mouth may cause either superficial or penetrating injury within the oropharynx. The natural course for a majority of these injuries is spontaneous healing. Penetrating trauma in the parapharyngeal space may cause life-threatening vascular injuries. Violation of the retropharyngeal space may lead to dissecting emphysema or mediastinitis. Knowledge of these infrequent but serious sequelae complicates emergency department management decisions.

Acute testicular pain : Henoch-Schönlein purpura versus testicular torsion

A skilled examiner may not be able to exclude testicular torsion by physical examination maneuvers in a patient who presents with acute scrotal pain. Diagnostic adjunctive studies may be of assistance. However, if a diagnosis cannot be established with certainty, surgical exploration is warranted. Patients with Henoch-Schönlein purpura who present with a vascular eruption on the scrotum, lack a rash elsewhere, and have no arthritis or hematuria are likely to be explored.

Apnea and seizures caused by nicotine ingestion.

Tobacco products are potentially hazardous to children. Small oral doses may create marked toxic effects. Physicians treating children with gastrointestinal complaints, altered consciousness, and seizure with depressed respiration should seek a history of possible exposure to tobacco products, including gum used for smoking abstinence. Intoxication can be verified by a urine toxicology screen utilizing chromatography.

Evaluation of the patient with neck complaints following tonsillectomy or adenoidectomy.

The emergency physician should be cognizant of the potential postoperative complications of tonsillectomy or adenoidectomy. Two unusual cases are presented to illustrate the differential diagnosis of the postoperative complaint of neck stiffness.

Grunting respirations, Chest or abdominal pathology?

A large percentage of misdiagnosed appendicitis cases occur during childhood. Misdiagnosed patients have increased morbidity and mortality from the diagnostic delay. The patients excused from an emergency facility who are ultimately shown to suffer from appendicitis have higher rates of perforation with attendant abscess formation, peritonitis, sepsis, and potential death. The patients with misdiagnosed appendicitis are young and likely to have atypical signs and symptoms. Grunting respirations incorrectly attributed to respiratory infection may serve as a pathway for a misdiagnosed case of appendicitis.

Intussusception: a supplement to the mnemonic for coma.

Expected clinical manifestations of intussusception include paroxysmal abdominal pain, vomiting, abdominal mass, and with time, rectal bleeding. We report a case where lethargy and vomiting are the presenting complaints. Diagnostic delay was encountered for this infant who had altered sensorium without accompanying pain, melena, or mass on initial examination. Either plain radiographs, supplemented by ultrasonography of the abdomen, or a barium enema should be performed in infants with unexplained lethargy.

Neonatal psoas pyomyositis simulating pyarthrosis of the hip

Osteomyelitis with concomitant pyarthrosis or isolated pyarthrosis heads the differential list for a newborn with limb disuse and a flexion deformity of the hip. The diagnosis of psoas abscess, a primary suppurative myositis, should additionally be entertained. Stronger consideration should be given to this clinical entity after pyarthrosis of the hip has been excluded by an arthrocentesis performed under fluoroscopy. Radiologic imaging may facilitate the diagnosis. A blood culture may yield the organism responsible for the skeletal muscle abscess, even in nontoxic patients.