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Emergency Medical Minute

 

Mar 30, 2022

Contributor: Dr. Kimberly Nordstrom

  • De-escalation usually takes less time than physical and chemical restraints, which leads to decreased injury to staff members, better patient trust and increased patient throughput as accepting facilities oftentimes delay transfer acceptance following physical restraints
  • Prepare to...


Mar 29, 2022

Contributor: Peter Bakes, MD

Educational Pearls:

  • 3% of cases of acute coronary syndrome are due to Takotsubo
  • Takotsubo  cardiomyopathy or “broken heart syndrome” can occur with severe physiologic or emotional stressors, as these events can result in a profound outpouring of sympathetic neurotransmitters...


Mar 28, 2022

Contributor: Sam Killian, MD

Educational Pearls:

  • Transaminitis refers to the elevation of transaminases, enzymes of the liver (AST and ALT)
  • Elevation of ALT is relatively specific to the liver, but AST is found in more organs than the liver including the muscle
  • If AST is significantly greater than ALT, consider a...


Mar 22, 2022

Contributor: Aaron Lessen, MD

Educational Pearls:

  • Tramadol is often thought of as a mild-opiate to use for analgesia, but it is a more complicated drug
  • Tramadol needs to be metabolized into an effective drug making it not pharmacologically reliable
    • 3-10% of people cannot metabolize tramadol and it does not work
    • Some...


Mar 21, 2022

Contributor: Aaron Lessen, MD

Educational Pearls:

  • Retrospective cohort study looked at return rate of discharged patients after receiving either phenobarbital or benzodiazepines or both in the ED for treatment of alcohol withdrawal
  • Patients who received benzodiazepines had a 25% chance of returning in 3 days versus a...