* Common during the first year of life as well as during puberty * Presents with nausea/vomiting, abdominal pain, and/or testicular pain * ALWAYS examine a child for signs of torsion who presents with abdominal pain (especially lower abdominal pain) * Look for tenderness, firmness, high riding testicle or testicle with unequal lie, swelling, and the absence of a cremasteric reflex * Consult Urology IMMEDIATELY if you have high suspicion, otherwise proceed to ultrasound * Ultrasound is only 85% sensitive, so clinical gestalt can trump even a negative US * Attempt manual detorsi ..read more

You are working at Clerkship General when the next patient is put into your rack. It is an 8 year-old male with vomiting Initial Vitals: HR: 119 BP: 104/63 Temp: 98.0F RR: 20 O2: 99% (Room Air) Critical Actions: References: Mellick LB, Sinex JE, Gibson RW, Mears K. A Systematic Review of Testicle Survival Time ..read more

Hypertensive Emergencies of Pregnancy PreEclampsia, Eclampsia, HELLP syndrome Diagnosis: BP >140/90 plus end organ dysfunction Treatment ..read more

You are working at Clerkship General when the next chart is put in your rack. It’s a 41-year-old female with a chief complaint of headache. Initial Vitals: HR: 56 BP: 172/93 Temp: 98.8F RR: 18 O2: 97% Critical Actions ..read more

Diagnosing PE: Step 1: Consciously consider the diagnosis Step 2: Risk Stratify into low, intermediate, and high risk Step 3: Choose appropriate testing based on pre-test probability Classification of PE Treatment of PE ..read more

You are working at Clerkship General when you overhear the base command radio. “Clerkship General. We have a 57 year-old female coming in for leg pain. She just had surgery at your hospital. Her blood pressure is 85/50. We’ll be there in 5 minutes.” Initial Vitals: HR: 122 BP: 75/40 Temp: 100.1 RR: 24 O2 ..read more

Shock – A state of deranged physiology characterized by systemic, widespread hypoperfusion ..read more

You are working at Clerkship General when you hear and EMS call on the radio. “Clerkship General, we are activating a trauma alert. We are bringing you a 33 year old male from a high-speed single vehicle collision” Initial Vitals: HR: 65 BP: 88/50 Temp: 97.0F RR: 20 O2: 96% Room Air Critical Actions ..read more

* Differential * Traumatic causes: non-accidental trauma, fracture, dislocation, sprain, strain, tendonitis, osgood schlatter * Non-traumatic causes: septic arthritis, transient synovitis, osteomyelitis, SCFE, LCP disease, rheumatologic disease, bony tumors * Work-up * XRay * Labs to evaluate for septic arthritis – CBC BMP ESR CRP * Kocher Criteria * Non-weight bearing * Fever >38.5C * ESR >40 * WBC >12 * Kocher Criteria Statistics * 0 points: 0.2% (or 2% in prospective studies) * 1 point: 3% (or 9% in prospective studies) * 2 p ..read more

You are working a beautiful sunny day in Pennsylvania when the next chart gets put in your rack. It is a 2 year-old male with a leg injury. Initial Vitals: HR: 112 BP: 97/67 Temp: 99.2F RR: 20 O2: 97% Room Air Critical Actions ..read more