bestBETs

A 4 year old boy presenting to Emergency department with high pyrexia of 39.5C and on going generalised clonic tonic seizure. No IV access is immediately obtainable. You have identified that the child requires urgent first line treatment for initial seizure control.

An 8-year-old female is hit by a car while riding her bike. Upon arrival to the emergency department she is hypotensive and tachycardic. Multiple intravenous attempts were made en route to the hospital but have been unsuccessful. You question if a powered intraosseous insertion device would provide access as safe and effective as intravenous access?

A 65 years old male patient is admitted through your Emergency department with severe sepsis. Early Goal Directed Therapy (EGDT) was started within one hour of patient’s arrival. You are aware that sepsis has a very high mortality and you wonder is there anything else you can do to improve the chances of your patient surviving. ITU registrar mentions the possible role of statins in the management of septic patients. On your search you realized that 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-COA) reductase inhibitors (statins), possess a number of pleiotropic effects that are thought to have a beneficial effect in septic patients. Data from animal models has shown promising results in improving survival in mice with sepsis, and you wonder if statins could be the new breakthrough drug in the management of these patients.

A patient requires a thoracotomy for resection of a lobe of their lung is worried about pain relief post-operatively. You wonder whether it might be pertinent to provide them with an spinal block rather than prescribe IV analgesia for the immediate post-operative period.

A 47-year-old woman self-presents to the emergency department complaining of a sudden-onset headache associated with vomiting, which had developed suddenly. Her only medical history is migraine with aura diagnosed and treated by a neurology clinic; but this felt different. Triage notes show that she is apyrexial and routine observations are within normal parameters (GCS E4 V5 M6). No neurological signs are present but she appears incredibly uncomfortable, in the absence of true photophobia. A CT scan is done and no abnormality is identified. The patient feels reassured and is keen to get home, where her husband would be able to keep an eye on her. This seems reasonable. However, you wonder whether or not there is evidence for any circumstances where not progressing to lumbar puncture +/- admission would be supported, despite the current consensus opinion that it is required for the added confidence when combined with CT, in excluding sub-arachnoid haemorrhage (SAH). Your thought is based on the fact that in your experience LP procedures on non-ambulance arrivals have not yielded positive results.

A 28-year-old woman experiencing dizziness, vertigo, nausea, and vomiting after riding a boat is brought to the emergency department. She has no systemic disease or diarrhea and denies being pregnant; her vital signs are normal. Her symptoms improve a lot after resting. She enquires about methods to prevent the motion sickness. You wonder whether natural ginger extracts could help prevent or reduce severity of motion sickness.

A 40 year old man presents in the Emergency Department complaining of fever and increased abdominal size for the last two days. He is an alcoholic and the clinical exam shows a distended abdomen with dullness in the flanks. An abdominal ultrasound confirms ascitis. A diagnostic paracentesis is done and reveals a polymorphonuclear (PMN) cell count greater than 250/mm3.

A 6 year old attends the emergency department with a moderate exacerbation of his asthma.

A one year old girl presents to the Emergency Department with acute wheeze and suspected asthma. Her GP had given her salbutamol syrup which did not appear to help. You use salbutamol via a spacer and want to know if oral bronchodilators are effective at relieving asthma symptoms.

A 26-year-old woman presents to the Emergency Department with pelvic pain and purulent vaginal discharge is diagnosed with pelvic inflammatory disease (PID). She had an intrauterine device (IUD) placed six months ago after the birth of her third child. She is afebrile, able to tolerate oral intake, and can be managed as an outpatient. As you discharge her with antibiotics, you wonder if you should have removed the IUD or arrange to have it removed by her gynecologist.

A 25 year-old man presents with a fever and cough productive of yellowish sputum. You take a history and examine the patient. You wonder whether it is possible to rule in or rule out pneumonia without the need for a chest x-ray, to save time, money and radiation.

A 1-year-old boy presented to emergency department with fever. History and Physical examination suggested upper respiratory tract infection. You want to prescribe paracetamol(acetaminophen) for the fever, but the boy kept on crying and oral route was not possible. You wonder if oral route is more effective than rectal administration.

A 6-year-old boy weighing 23 kg is repatriated to your unit from a Dutch hospital after appendectomy complicating a short holiday trip abroad. He is still on parenteral hydration. You notice that the prescribed intravenous solution of 1600 ml a day is hypotonic: dextrose 5%, NaCl 0.45% with 2 mmol potassium/kg/day added. His serum electrolytes and glucose are within the normal range. You wonder why your colleagues abroad did not prescribe isotonic maintenance solution so you decide to contact them. You are informed by the referral hospital that it is common practice to prescribe hypotonic fluids as maintenance solution, and you wonder whether your routine of prescribing isotonic fluids as maintenance is be preferred.

A 3-year-old girl is brought to the emergency department by her parents. She has vomited multiple times and has been feverish and lethargic over the last 24 h. On examination, she is feverish, she has a stiff neck and Kernig's sign is positive. You are concerned about the possibility of meningitis but do not want to put a child through an unnecessary lumbar puncture. You wonder how accurate the above signs of meningeal irritation are in detecting bacterial meningitis in children.

An 83-year-old restrained female passenger involved in a head-on collision is brought to the ED via helicopter. The ED evaluation reveals an unidentified esophageal intubation. On questioning the helicopter paramedic crew, it is found that a carbon dioxide indicator was not used in the field.