Should we be giving steroids to patients with community acquired pneumonia?
Should we be giving corticosteroids to children with community acquired pneumonia? The answer is not so simple, read on for more.
Briefs: Lactate in Sepsis
An elevated lactate level is associated with increased mortality in sepsis. Explore some of the evidence in this post.
Is it possible to decrease MRSA carriage by putting antibiotics in your nose?
You can reduce carriage rates of MRSA by using bactroban and a few select hygiene measures. These are effective in the short term - but the long term benefits are not well understood.
A few take home points about meningitis
It's meningitis season! Here are a few quick hits on diagnosis courtesy of the good folks at TamingtheSRU.com
Should we really be packing abscesses?
When I was first taught how to drain an abscess I was taught to pack most with ¼ inch gauze. Initially it was iodoform gauze, later just plain old ribbon gauze. As with many things I felt like it worked and had no impetus to change. [...]
Incision and loop drainage of cutaneous abscesses: What’s the evidence?
This excellent article comes courtesy of Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center senior resident Landon Krantz, MD - who performed a thorough literature review and wrote a concise, informative review of the titular technique. Subcutaneous abscesses are a common presenting problem in pediatric emergency rooms, and [...]
PEM Currents Podcast: The Febrile Newborn
This episode of PEM Currents tackles a bread and butter issue in Pediatric Emergency Medicine, the newborn with fever. I discuss management, specifically how it differs for babies under 28 days of age as well as when to get labs and how to interpret them. [...]
Art of Medicine Video: Discussing Mild to Moderate Croup with Parents in the Emergency Department
This is the first video in the ongoing Art of Medicine series common . The goal is these videos is to share a demonstration of how I would talk to parents about common conditions encountered in the Emergency Department. I could think of no better topic [...]
Botulism resources (you know, just in case there’s an outbreak)
If there happened to be a local outbreak of botulism somewhat close to where I worked I'd want to take a look at some resources; Pediatrics in Review: Infant Botulism Medscape: Pediatric Botulism Life in the Fast Lane
Listen to the new PEM Currents podcast: An interview with bronchiolitis guru Todd Florin
I'm delighted to share the latest PEM Currents podcast! I recently sat down with Todd Florin, one of the faculty physicians at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and talked about bronchiolitis, delving into the controversies around the use of hypertonic saline, albuterol and more. Todd [...]