Healthcare Update Satellite — 12-16-2014

Answering the important questions … why does the flu vaccine suck this year? Keep a lookout for next month’s issue of EP Monthly which will tell you everything you need to know about influenza diagnosis and treatment. Of course, if you had read the backboard article in EP Monthly’s November issue, you’d already be doing this … Florida fire department abandons use of backboards for most trauma patients. 4 year old boy develops carotid artery dissection and left sided hemiparesis after riding a roller coaster. Fortunately, he had made significant recovery by six months. How scary is that, though? Can you imagine calling the neurologist and vascular surgeon telling them that you have a four year old child with an acute stroke? A patient suffering from a rare condition called ossifying fibromas had lost the structural integrity of two bones in her back. Normally, the vertebrae are removed and replaced with artificial bones, but the process is difficult because the artificial bones must be filed down during surgery to make sure that they fit. Surgeons in Zhejiang University used CT scans and a 3D printer to create a titanium implant that exactly matched the patient’s spine. A lot of insight about emergency medicine wrapped up into a few paragraphs from a Florida Times-Union columnist who went to the emergency department with his wife. “Most [patients] probably shouldn’t have been there, but the poor and uninsured use emergency rooms for ...
Source: WhiteCoat's Call Room - Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Tags: Healthcare Update Source Type: blogs