Mary Nan S. Mallory

Emergencies in the Office Setting

Although not widely reported in the literature, emergencies do occur in the office. Types and incidence will vary depending on patient demographics and specific office procedures. Providing definitive care for all emergency situations is obviously impossible, but the prudent clinician prepares to initiate treatment for the most likely and the most rapidly lethal diagnoses. Syncope, perhaps the most common, has many etiologies, some of which are life-threatening. Initial office management of cardiopulmonary arrest, hypoglycemia, seizures, and shock states, including anaphylaxis, can successfully avert morbidity and mortality.