JACEP
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Emergency treatment of foot injuries can be made less painful by regional block anesthesia. There is limited medical literature on these techniques and many physicians, while familiar with regional anesthesia of the upper extremity, are not experienced with nerve blocks in the lower extremity. ⋯ Regional anesthesia avoids both of these problems and can prove effective and useful. This paper discusses the techniques and possible complications of nerve block anesthesia of the foot.
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The Cincinnati General Hospital Emergency Department has a training program for emergency medicine residents on a multidisciplinary emergency psychiatry team. This essential training should occur in the emergency department setting rather than in psychiatric inpatient units of state hospital settings. ⋯ Some observations are made about how the emergency medicine residents deal with emotionally disturbed patients. Finally, 80% of emergency medicine residents responded to questionnaire on their reactions to the multidisciplinary emergency psychiatry team.
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Shock continues to be associated with a high mortality rate primarily because of delays in diagnosis and therapy. To diagnose shock early, and thereby increase the chances of reversal before there is extensive deterioration of vital organs, one should look for any decrease in pulse pressure, urine output, urine sodium concentration, alertness or any increase in urine osmolarity, tachypnea or tachycardia. Systolic hypotension, oliguria, metabolic acidosis and a cold clammy skin are late signs of shock. ⋯ The resuscitation from the shock process itself involves correction of pathophysiologic changes, based on objective trends and responses rather than isolated measurements. A suggested outline of therapies in order of their use includes: 1) correction of the primary problem; 2) ventilation and oxygen; 3) fluid-loading: 4) inotropic agents; 5) correction of acid-based and electrolyte abnormalities; 6) steroids ("physiologic" or "pharmacologic" doses); 7) vasopressors (especially in elderly, severely hypotensive patients); 8) vasodilators (if excess vasoconstriction); 9) diuretics (if oliguric in spite of the above), and 10) heparin (if DIC). The most common errors are 1) late diagnosis; 2) inadequate control of the primary problems; 3) inadequate fluid loading; 4) delayed ventilator assistance, and 5) excessive reliance on and use if vasopressors and diuretics.
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To investigate the application of a cough-creating thrust for the removal of airway-obstructing foreign material, the thrust was applied to six adult male anesthetized volunteers at the waist, at the low chest level, and at the midchest level, with the subjects in both the horizontal-lateral and the sitting positions. Air volume, peak air flow rate, and airway measurements were made. ⋯ The ease of application and consistently better level of results indicate that the chest thrust is the technique of choice. The application of the chest thrust should be integrated into the concepts of basic life-support and cardiopulmonary resuscitation.