Practical Summaries in Acute Care Archives – June 1, 2004
June 1, 2004
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High-Dose Epinephrine in Children: No Benefit, Maybe Harmful
High-dose epinephrine currently is considered a treatment option for pediatric victims of cardiac arrest. This Brazilian study provides powerful evidence that high-dose epinephrine offers no advantage in the resuscitation of children. -
Prehospital Hypertonic Saline Resuscitation Not Helpful for Hypotensive Patients with Severe Traumatic Brain Injury
In this well-designed, double-blind, controlled study, investigators in Australia randomized 229 patients with severe traumatic brain injury and hypotension to receive either HTS or isotonic saline fluid administered in the pre-hospital setting. -
Do All Human Bite Wounds Need Antibiotics?
Most emergency medicine textbooks agree that human bite wounds, as well as dog and cat bite wounds, require antibiotic prophylaxis in addition to usual wound care practices. This study from the University of Maryland challenges this belief, and attempts to define a group of human bites at low risk of infection that do not require any antibiotic prophylaxis. -
Comparing Methods of Loading Phenytoin in Seizure Patients
The authors have tackled a common problem in the emergency department: finding the most effective phenytoin-loading technique. -
Special Feature: Rhabdomyolysis
Rhabdomyolysis is defined as injury to skeletal muscle resulting in breakdown of muscle tissue with subsequent leakage of intracellular contents, including myoglobin, potassium and other electrolytes, creatine phosphokinase, and other muscle enzymes. -
ECG Review: A Special Wave
The electrocardiogram in the Figure was obtained from a 68-year-old man admitted to the intensive care unit for a drug overdose. In view of his ECG, what vital sign needs to be checked? How many ECG findings consistent with this patients clinical condition can you identify? -
Trauma Reports Supplement