5-Minute Journal – Page 4 – Rush Emergency Medicine

5 Minute Journal: Central Line Placement

Aug 28, 2019Rush Emergency Medicine5-Minute Journal, Resuscitation5 Minute Journal Article, Resuscitation

Author: Lauran Wirfs

Background:

Central venous access is an important procedure for critically ill patients. One consideration when placing a venous catheter is the risk of catheter-related bloodstream infections (CRBIs), which can be a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in hospitalized patients. In 2012, there were 15 million central venous catheter (CVC) days per year in the US in ICUs, and the rate of infections per catheter days is 3/1000. This post looks at a systematic review done by Marik et. al. that examines CRBIs among internal jugular, subclavian, and femoral central venous sites.

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5 Minute Journal: San Francisco Syncope Rule

Jul 25, 2019Catherine Buckley5-Minute Journal, Cardiology, Neurology5 Minute Journal Article, Neurology

Background: About 1 to 2% of ER visits deal with Syncope. Most of these are vaso-vagal episodes that do not require more work up. But, beside the obvious slam dunk:…

5 Minute Journal: Canadian C-Spine

Jul 16, 2019Rush Emergency Medicine5-Minute Journal, Trauma5 Minute Journal Article, Trauma

Author: Dr. Keya Patel

Background

Each year, more than 1 million patients are treated in the emergency department for blunt trauma and potential C-spine injury. Cervical CT remains the mainstay of imaging in assessing for injury. Here, we review the Canadian C-spine Rule in determining the need for advanced imaging such as CT.

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5 Minute Journal: Kocher Criteria for Septic Arthritis

Nov 15, 2018Kelly Ryan5-Minute Journal, Infectious Disease, Orthopedics, Pediatrics5 Minute Journal Article, 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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5 Minute Journal: Antibiotics for Abscess

Oct 8, 2018Tom Seagraves5-Minute Journal, Infectious Disease, Skin5 Minute Journal Article, Infectious Disease, Pharmacy, Skin

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5 Minute Journal: Diagnosing Heart Failure

Jul 19, 2018Tom Seagraves5-Minute Journal, Cardiology5 Minute Journal Article, Cardiovascular

We can all recall learning about the NYHA classification, and being taught to ask about our CHF ” greatest hits”: orthopnea, dyspnea on exertion, number of pillows (my favorite question), worsening edema, etc., but how does this stack up in the literature?

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