Stop the bleeding!

Heme/Onc,

As emergency physicians, we know how to handle bleeding. But what about when the patient is on anticoagulants? Last week our ED pharmacist, Gary Peksa, PharmD, gave us some advice on how to stop the bleeding in a patient on anticoagulants. Here is a brief overview on what he taught us. Let’s start by discussing all the intricacies of the coagulation cascade and how each of the anticoagulants work:

coagulation cascade.png

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Posterior Circulation Ischemic Strokes

Neurology

Last week we had the opportunity to learn about posterior circulation ischemic strokes from vascular neurologist, Dr. Osteraas.

Diagnosing posterior circulation ischemic strokes can be challenging in the emergency department, largely because posterior circulation ischemic strokes frequently lack “traditional” stroke signs and symptoms and the symptoms that you do see are often non-specific and can be slow onset. Despite this, it is important to do our best to diagnose these as about 20% of ischemic events involve the posterior circulation and posterior circulation ischemic strokes can lead to some of the most devastating neurologic outcomes, including massive cerebellar infarcts with subsequent herniation and locked in syndrome.

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5 Minute Journal: Kocher Criteria for Septic Arthritis

5-Minute Journal, Infectious Disease, Orthopedics, Pediatrics, , ,

This week’s 5-minute Journal Article discussion covered

“Validation of a Clinical Prediction Rule for the Differentiation Between Septic Arthritis and Transient Synovitis of the Hip in Children” by Kocher et al.

 

Why is it important to differentiate between septic arthritis and transient synovitis in pediatric patients? Because both diseases can present similarly with acute onset of pain, fever, limp or inability to bear weight and patients holding their hip in the flexed, abducted, externally rotated (FABER) position. The difference is transient synovitis is exactly that, transient, while septic arthritis can lead to permanent joint damage and disability if not treated aggressively with surgical intervention and IV antibiotics.

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