Also see the satellite edition of this week's update over at ER Stories. ------- Work in a health care facility? Get a flu shot or lose your job. That's the policy that a couple of national health organizations are pushing. We already do it for tu... Read more

Dear Director,
I’m a medical director and have one doc who I’m under pressure by administration to fire.  Although he’s a good clinician who saves lives, at least once a week he gets complaints from patients, nurses, non ED attendings, etc…What can I do?

Read more

Triage walks back a 42-year-old male who has been stabbed in the left shoulder by his girlfriend (OK, I admit I am curious why, but first things first). He has bilateral breath sounds, but is not taking deep breaths due to pleuritic pain on the left side.

Read more

A just-released AMA study has revealed that more than 42% of physicians across all specialties has at some time been sued for malpractice, and more than 20% have been sued two or more times.

Read more

We receive this transfer from an outlying hospital for a neurology evaluation. The patient is in his 30s and was out at the bars when he was hit in head with beer bottle during an altercation. Since that event, he has complained of dizziness, headache,... Read more

I'm getting worried about going to work lately. First it's this phone call. Now, it's the following: Mrs. WhiteCoat happened to be at the hospital seeing a patient and I get a call from Daughter WhiteCoat in the ED. "Ummm ... Dad? Yeah. Um Junior Wh... Read more

Haven't had an open mic in a while. Go ahead and rant about anything health-related that piques your interest in the comments section to this post. Only rule is that there are no ad hominem attacks. Flames get deleted and I'm Smokey the Bear. Argue ... Read more

It's sad when you hear about deaths due to texting while driving. Dr. Frank Ryan recently drove off a California cliff while reportedly making a Twitter post about his dog. We recently had a 22 year old patient come in from a bad motorcycle accident. R... Read more

A 37-year-old man presented to the emergency department with severe respiratory distress. He reported a history of hypertension, diabetes and end-stage renal failure for which he received hemodialysis three times per week. However, he admitted to missing his last two dialysis sessions.

Read more

You breathe a small sigh of relief when your senior resident begins presenting his next case to you. The patient is a 17-year-old G1P0 who found out she was pregnant via a home pregnancy test last month. She presents to the ED at 6 AM because she has been vomiting all night and can’t sleep.

Read more