-
Synopsis: A patient receiving the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) citalopram developed fatal serotonin syndrome after beginning therapy with linezolid for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection.
-
-
National patient safety legislation that would encourage the confidential reporting of medical errors is critically needed in todays health care system, urged Dennis OLeary, MD, president of the Joint Commission.
-
Since 1996, at least 150 children have died as a result of being trapped in hot, parked vehicles. Contrary to what would be expected, these deaths occurred throughout all regions of the United States, making it important for all emergency medicine physicians to be familiar with the resuscitation of a child with a heat-related illness. This article provides an overview of heat-related illnesses in children and prevention and management strategies to facilitate care.
-
Whether a bite or sting results in an anaphylactic reaction, impressive
local effects, or a life-threatening systemic reaction, the emergency
physician must be able to institute appropriate and effective
treatment. Emergency physicians also must be able to recognize clinical
envenomation patterns, since some critically ill patients may not be
able to convey the details of the attack. Since all areas of the
country are represented in the envenomation statistics, all emergency
physicians should be familiar with identification and stabilization of
envenomated patients and know what resources are available locally for
further management of these often complicated patients.
-
-
New research from the Womens Health Initiative (WHI) indicates that for many postmenopausal women, combined hormone therapy does not have a clinically significant effect on their health-related quality of life.
-
With fluoroquinolone-resistant gonorrhea becoming more common in the United States, clinicians have looked to two treatment alternatives, cefixime and ceftriaxone, to combat the sexually transmitted disease (STD).
-
Since the NuvaRing contraceptive vaginal ring (Organon, West Orange, NJ) entered the U.S. market in mid-2002, new research has been published that underscores its efficacy and acceptability.
-