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Emergency Medical Minute

 

May 31, 2022

Contributor: Nick Hatch, MD

Educational Pearls:

  • “Smiling Death” describes the prehospital phenomenon of a person who is happy to be extricated from an extended period of crush injury, but dies suddenly soon after the rescue.  
  • Smiling Death is caused by Crush Syndrome. Crush Syndrome begins when large areas of...


May 30, 2022

Contributor: Jared Scott, MD

Educational Pearls:

  • Pepper spray is a chemical irritant derived from oleoresin capsicum (OC), an extract from pepper plants. It can be used by police for riot or crowd control, or by individuals for self defense.  
  • In the event of an exposure, those affected should immediately disperse from...


May 24, 2022

Contributor: Jared Scott, MD

Educational Pearls:

  • About 50% of those infected with SARS-CoV-2 will shed the virus in their feces  
  • Wastewater surveillance can be used to track COVID burden, which may be easier than collating test data from multiple hospitals across a region 
  • Viral shedding begins 5-7 days prior to...


May 23, 2022

Contributor: Jared Scott, MD

Educational Pearls:

  • A study randomized 34 healthy patient to have their left anterior descending artery (LAD) occluded by balloon for 0, 15, 30, or 90 seconds  
  • Subsequently,  cardiac troponins (cTns) and Copeptin were measured every 15 minutes for 3 hours, then every 30 minutes for the...


May 17, 2022

Contributor: Aaron Lessen, MD

Educational Pearls:

  • Tidal volume is the amount of breath a patient receives in a single ventilation 
  • Traditional tidal volume (TV) setting was 10 ml/kg but studies showed lower TV had less incidence of respiratory distress, ARDS, and overall better outcomes 
  • ED ventilation settings may get...