J Emerg Med
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Medical student evaluations are essential for determining clerkship grades. Electronic evaluations have various advantages compared to paper evaluations, such as increased ease of collection, asynchronous reporting, and decreased likelihood of becoming lost. ⋯ EMSEs that were integrated into the emergency department tracking system significantly increased the number of evaluations completed compared to paper evaluations. In addition, the EMSEs captured more "helpful/useful" information about the individual students as evidenced by the longer free text entries per evaluation.
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Fractures are a frequent reason for emergency department visits and evaluation for abusive head trauma is an associated concern in infants. Recent guidelines have suggested that retinal examination may not be necessary in the absence of intracranial injury, but there is a lack of empirical evidence in infants < 1 year of age. ⋯ In infants < 1 year of age presenting with isolated long bone fractures, a dilated eye examination to evaluate for retinal hemorrhages is not likely to yield additional information. Our results support recent studies that a subset of children and infants may not require dilated eye examinations in the evaluation of possible abuse.
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Case Reports
Thrombosis of Inferior Vena Cava Diagnosed Using Point-of-Care Ultrasound After Pediatric Near-Syncope.
Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is extremely rare but under recognized in the pediatric population. Although the literature on the use of ultrasound to detect VTEs in adults is plentiful, little has been documented on its use in the pediatric population. ⋯ We present a case of a healthy 16-year-old female who presented to our emergency department with 3 months of dyspnea on exertion and one episode of near-syncope. Point-of-care cardiac ultrasound identified an inferior vena cava thrombosis. Subsequent computed tomography angiography diagnosed concurrent bilateral pulmonary emboli (PE). The patient's identical twin sister presented with similar symptoms shortly thereafter and was also diagnosed with VTE and bilateral PE. WHY SHOULD AN EMERGENCY PHYSICIAN BE AWARE OF THIS?: This case demonstrates an instance of VTE and pulmonary embolism in twin adolescent girls. Physical examination findings, electrocardiogram, chest x-ray study, and several previous evaluations did not reveal the diagnosis. Point of care ultrasound was used to correctly diagnosis VTE and for heightened concern for a pulmonary embolism.
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Xylazine is a sedative, analgesic, anesthetic, and central muscle relaxant approved for animals but not humans. Although xylazine is an emerging drug of abuse, there are limited data on potentially adverse exposures to the drug. ⋯ Xylazine exposures tended to involve patients who were adult males, exposures were typically unintentional; and most often occurred by injection. Most of the patients were already at or en route to a health care facility when a poison center was contacted. The most frequently reported adverse effects were cardiovascular or neurologic in nature.