Department Blog - April 2017

Posted 4/19/2017 by Linda Kesselring

The Power of a Question

Laura J. Bontempo, MD, MEd, published “Family Medical History” in the Reflections column of Academic Emergency Medicine (24[2]:254-255, February 2017). In this pensive essay, Dr. Bontempo examines the impact of a question asked by many practitioners during their initial assessment of a patient. Routine inquiry into the family’s medical history becomes much less routine when heard from the patient's point of view.


Posted 4/17/2017 by Linda Kesselring

Pain Management for Sickle Cell Crisis

Amani Mahdi, MD, MBBS, former emergency medicine research fellow, published "Pain Management in Vaso-occlusive Sickle Cell Crisis" in EMResident this month. Her article is available at www.emresident.org/sickle-cell-crisis/.


Posted 4/6/2017 by Linda Kesselring

New ACEP Policy on Psychiatric Care

The American College of Emergency Physicians has issued a new policy on the diagnosis and management of adult psychiatric patients in EDs, available in the April issue of Annals of Emergency Medicine (69[4]:480-498). Jon Mark Hirshon, MD, MPH, PhD, is a member of ACEP's Clinical Policies Committee, which oversaw the development of the document.


Posted 4/4/2017 by Linda Kesselring

Dr. Sward Teaches Search and Rescue

Doug Sward, MD, presented a workshop during the Wilderness and Disaster Medicine course at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine in early March. Titled “Search and Rescue: Initial Tasks and Reflex Actions,” his didactic presentation reviewed lost-person behavior and its application to rescue missions and was followed by a hands-on exercise that asked students to develop a search strategy using a topographic map. The 2-week course encourages students to improvise under austere conditions and prepares them to respond to emergencies in wilderness settings as well as disaster scenarios. A Wall Street Journal article about the course can be read here: https://www.wsj.com/articles/latest-medical-school-trend-wilderness-training-1490097604?emailToken=JRryd/96aHqXgdY1b8w43UEldbVNDuKFR1jeKDXRMUjLs3iQvfiswalwmNqzrW61Q0th/JUY9Wc+QzzXjy8zAJ7Jw+8gzw/4