Using Telemedicine and Self-Monitoring to Safely Provide Prenatal Care to COVID-19 Patients
June 2, 2021
Updated: May 27, 2021 The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2, a highly transmissible virus that can be spread by asymptomatic people, requires providers to make innovative changes in how patients are seen and treated in the ambulatory setting. Prenatal care requires frequent face-to-face visits, so it is particularly challenged to adapt to…Read More
COVID & Burnout: The MAACU Effect
May 18, 2021
[5 MIN READ] Before the COVID pandemic, the medical community in general, and physicians in particular, were dealing with and continue to deal with a pandemic of its own: Burnout. In 2019, burnout was categorized as a disease by the WHO. It is characterized as: “…a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that…Read More
Treatment for Pregnant COVID-19 Patients Not Requiring Hospitalization
May 11, 2021
Updated: April 30, 2021 Pregnant women who have known or suspected COVID-19 infection need to be evaluated quickly to determine the severity of their symptoms and if they have risk factors that put them at risk for severe disease. New data on the outcomes for pregnant women have shown that pregnancy is a risk factor…Read More
COVID–19 Vaccines During Pregnancy: What should we tell our pregnant patients about taking the vaccine?
March 19, 2021
In January 2020, the first case of the novel virus known as SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2), responsible for COVID-19 disease, was found in the United States. Since that time, there have been 6 major vaccines developed to prevent infection with this virus. However, none of the original trials included pregnant women. Three…Read More
Case: When Is It More Than Just Back Pain?
December 18, 2020
History A 25-year-old man presented to the ED with the chief complaint of low back pain. The pain onset gradually about 10 days prior, days after he lifted some furniture. The pain was described as dull and constant, with an intensity of level 7 out of 10 and getting worse in the past few days….Read More
Case: Complicated Angiogram Reveals VEDS Diagnosis
September 17, 2020
It’s estimated that between 3,000 and 8,000 people in the U.S. have Vascular Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (VEDS), although many are undiagnosed. Because 50% of those with the condition do not have a family history, the road to diagnosis and expert care can be long. Many individuals with VEDS are not diagnosed until they have a life-threatening…Read More
Triage Competency Checklist: Onboarding a New Nurse to Triage
August 19, 2020
[6 MIN READ] The national nursing shortage makes recruiting and retaining quality nursing staff extremely competitive. While facilities traditionally might have required 3-5 years of emergency department (ED) experience before training a nurse for triage, the lack of resources has forced some organizations into reducing the requirement to one year or less. As this requirement…Read More
Anchoring: A Common Cause of Diagnostic Error
June 29, 2020
[8 MIN READ] Why was the diagnosis really missed? In my previous position as Manager of Risk, Claims & Insurance for our physician group, the available methods of error analysis never satisfied my quest for the ultimate answer to this recurrent question in any given case. The majority of our group practice was emergency medicine;…Read More
