Hospital Medicine
- How acute pain leads to chronic opioid use
Several recent studies suggest how doctors can better treat acute pain to prevent chronic opioid use.
- Pulmonary infarction due to pulmonary embolism
A 76-year-old man is admitted with pleuritic chest pain and shortness of breath 48 hours after undergoing surgery.
- Perioperative cardiovascular medicine: 5 questions for 2018
Findings of recent studies regarding aspirin, troponin T, hypotension, patent foramen ovale, and recurrent stroke.
- Shortness of breath, fever, cough, and more in an elderly woman
The patient’s many problems include ventricular tachycardia, requiring an implanted cardioverter-defi brillator and amiodarone.
- The bias of word choice and the interpretation of laboratory tests
Words matter. Calling ALT and AST “liver function tests” can lead to premature diagnosis of liver disease.
- Calcific uremic arteriolopathy
A 51-year-old man with end-stage renal disease presented with extensive necrotic ulcers and eschar on both legs.
- Which patients with a parapneumonic effusion need a chest tube?
Hospitalized patients with pneumonia who develop a complicated effusion or empyema need one.
- What inpatient treatments do we have for acute intractable migraine?
Options: volume repletion, antiemetics, antiepileptics, NSAIDs, corticosteroids, and magnesium sulfate. Avoid opioids.
- When does S aureus bacteremia require transesophageal echocardiography?
TTE is a good starting point, but TEE is indicated in patients with a high pretest probability of endocarditis.
- S aureus bacteremia: TEE and infectious disease consultation
Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia demands further evaluation, as up to 25% of people who have it may have endocarditis.