A 50 year-old female who was “on a bender” over the weekend now presents with diffuse abdominal pain and persistent nausea and vomiting. She will have a diffusely tender abdomen, a BP of 80/40, and be tachycardic. The team will need to work through a broad differential diagnosis and should fluid resuscitate aggressively. Once the patient has received 6L of fluid, she will become tachypneic and hypoxic and require intubation. The team will be given a lipase result just prior.
Author: kcaners
Acute Chest Syndrome
A 4-year-old boy with known sick cell disease presents with two days of cough and a one afternoon of fever. The patient is initially saturating at 88%, looks unwell and is in moderate-severe distress. During the case, the patient’s oxygenation with drop and the emergency team is expected to provide airway support. They will also need to pick appropriate induction agents for intubation. The case will end with ICU admission. During the case, the mother will also be challenging/questioning the team until a team member is delegated to help keep the mother calm.
Gearing up to restart!
After an exam-writing hiatus, we're gearing up to restart our regular case publications. Have a case you'd love to see featured on the site? Send it to us at cases@emsimcases.com. We're always happy to collaborate and feature the great work of our peers. Stay tuned for new cases coming soon - we've got great things … Continue reading Gearing up to restart!
Short Break
We're going to be taking a short break here at EMSimCases. Our editors-in-chief have decided to pause until after their board exams in May. But don't worry, we'll be right back at it with new and interesting cases shortly thereafter. Thanks for reading! We look forward to bringing you new content in May.
Digoxin Overdose
This case is written by Dr. Kyla Caners. She is a PGY5 Emergency Medicine resident at McMaster University and is also one of the Editors-in-Chief here at EMSimCases. Why it Matters Digoxin toxicity is of critical importance to recognize. There are many subtleties to its management, which means that the concepts of digoxin toxicity are important … Continue reading Digoxin Overdose
Ruptured Ectopic
26 year-old female, recently immigrated from Cambodia, presents after a syncopal episode at home. At the case outset, she complains of feeling “a little dizzy” and has a HR of 100 and a BP of 90/60. Once the team initiates care, the patient will say she has to vomit and then become poorly responsive and more hypotensive. The patient does not know that she is pregnant, so the team will have to consider the diagnosis early and use bedside U/S to point them in the right direction. The team will then need to initiate a massive transfusion and arrange for surgery. If the ectopic pregnancy is not recognized, the patient will become persistently more hypotensive until she has a PEA arrest.
Hypothermia with Trauma
30 year-old female is brought into the ED at 4 AM by a man who found her lying at the side of the road with no coat or shoes. It is minus 30 degrees Celsius outside. On arrival she has a reduced LOC, laboured breathing, a right-sided pneumothorax, cyanotic extremities, a left radius & ulna fracture, and a right tib-fib fracture. The team is required to use both active and passive rewarming strategies. Regardless of the team’s efforts, the patient in this case will arrest. Upon ROSC, they are required to continue rewarming as well as to address the other traumatic injuries.
Two Patient Trauma
A young male and a middle-aged female are brought to the ED after a T-bone MVC at an unknown speed. Both patients were drivers. The emergency team is expected to triage the patients accordingly and to split the team so that both patients are treated.
Happy Holidays!
We're taking a short break this week to celebrate the holidays. Look for our next case to publish on January 5th. The next two are extra challenging and we think you'll enjoy.
Hyponatremic Seizure
A 93 year old woman comes in with family. They are concerned about general weakness, worsening PO intake over the last few months, and new confusion. As the team takes a history and starts the initial workup, the patient will begin to seize. She will seize continuously until hypertonic saline or a paralytic is given. After two doses of benzodiazepine, a critical result showing severe hyponatremia will come back. The team is expected to administer hypertonic saline, which will stop the seizure. The patient will remain somnolent after this dosing, and as the team prepares to intubate, she will seize again, requiring a repeated dose of hypertonic saline.
EM Sim Cases 