Jones & Bartlett Learning Medicine Blog

Pneumothoraces are a common problem in the ER and the ICU.  The traditional screening test for a pneumothorax in the hospital is the chest radiograph; however, chest radiographs are not very sensitive in the setting of trauma and in ventilated patients.  A recent study of 225 trauma patients demonstrated that an AP chest x-ray had only 20.9% sensitivity for detecting a pneumothorax versus a CT scan of the chest.[1] A chest CT scan is the gold standard for the diagnosis of a pneumothorax, but a CT scan is extremely expensive and exposes a patient to about 7 mSv radiation (the equivalent of 70 chest x-rays).  Another modality that is gaining traction as the principal diagnostic modality to evaluate for post-traumatic pneumothoraces is a transthoracic ultrasound.  Thoracic ultrasound look for the presence or absence of lung sliding, comet tail artifacts, A line, a lung point, and a “Seashore sign” or “Bar code sign” on M Mode sonography to determine whether a pneumothorax is present.  A transthoracic ultrasound takes only a few minutes to perform and is performed as a part of the E-FAST exam right in the trauma bay of the ER.  It costs nothing, is associated with no radiation exposure, and requires no transport of the patient.

Dr. Joseph Esherick Monthly Blog – March 2012

Global Health Blog - December 2011

I just got back to Botswana after attending the Emergency Medicine in the Developing World conference in beautiful Cape Town, South Africa!  It was exciting to meet so many emergency physicians, residents, paramedics, and nurses from across Africa.  Emergency Medicine (EM) is one of the newest specialties in the world with a 30-year history in the United States, and a 10-year history in South Africa.  EM training programs have recently launched in Ghana, Tanzania, Ethiopia, and in Botswana.  The conference was a good opportunity to compare notes, share experiences, and discuss future collaboration.  We even have our own medical journal now, the African Journal of Emergency Medicine, and my team from Botswana co-authored a paper describing the history of our work:
Development of Emergency Medicine in Botswana

Alongside academic EM training programs, we are all working to build acute care, emergency, and pre-hospital services in our respective countries.  The sustainability of these models will depend on the success of our advocacy in demanding these services from the health systems in which we work.  New international campaigns focusing on road traffic injuries (the decade of action for road safety launched this year) and non-communicable diseases will hopefully overlap with and reinforce our efforts...

Dr. Joseph Esherick Monthly Blog – November 2011

Numerous studies have shown that ultrasound guidance lowers the rate of complications and increases the success rate for virtually every hospital procedure compared with traditional landmark-based techniques.   This has proved to be the case for ultrasound-guided central lines, ultrasound-guided paracentesis, and ultrasound-guided lumbar punctures in obese patients.  This essay will focus on ultrasound-guided thoracentesis which has a decreased rate of pneumothorax and need for tube thoracostomy compared with the blind approach.

Pleural effusions affect nearly 1.5 million people each year in the United States.  Many of these people require thoracentesis for pleural fluid analysis to either determine the etiology of their pleural effusions or as a therapeutic procedure to relieve dyspnea and hypoxia.  Examination of the pleural space with sonography is best carried out using a convex array 3.5- to 5 MHz probe.[1]   Ideally, the patient is in the sitting position and sonography should identify the uppermost extent of the pleural effusion and the location of the diaphragm.  The depth of insertion can also be approximated by using the depth markers on the ultrasound screen.  At this point, a mark can be made on the posterior thorax just above the rib at the optimal site for thoracentesis.  The thoracentesis can then be carried out in standard fashion with the patient in the same sitting position.   Alternatively, the convex array probe can be placed in a sterile sheath and the thoracentesis can be performed using real-time ultrasound guidance.  The complication rate is identical with either technique for ultrasound-guided thoracentesis...

Dr. Joseph Esherick Monthly Blog – October 2011

Drotrecogin-alfa (DrotAA) has been an integral part of the care bundle for adult patients hospitalized with severe sepsis or septic shock and a high risk of death since 2002.  DrotAA is a synthetic activated Protein C (APC) which has good scientific evidence for why it may be beneficial in patients with severe sepsis and septic shock.  Patients with severe sepsis have abnormal activation of their coagulation pathways and inflammatory system and impaired fibrinolysis, which lead to a procoagulant state.  Normally, APC acts with Protein S to degrade clotting factors Va and VIIa to promote anticoagulation.  However, intrinsic levels of APC are diminished in patients with severe sepsis because of impaired APC synthesis and increased degradation by neutrophil elastases.  Therefore, the theory was that a synthetic APC could benefit patients by decreasing the abnormal clotting which occurs in the micro-circulation.

Dr. Joseph Esherick Monthly Blog – September 2011

National resident work hour restrictions were first implemented by the ACGME in 2003.   The debate started initially after the unfortunate death of Libby Zion in 1984 which prompted the state of New York to restrict resident duty hours.   The assumption was that resident fatigue caused the death of Libby Zion.  Among other restrictions, the 2003 regulations restricted resident shifts longer than 30 hours.  The regulations also stipulated that resident physicians must have at least one day in seven off and must have a 10 hour break between work shifts.

In 2008, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) declared that resident duty hour restrictions must be tighter to reduce medical errors and improve resident education.  The IOM proclaimed that resident shifts should not exceed 16 hours unless they are interrupted by a five-hour uninterrupted nap, no shift should exceed 30 hours, and moonlighting hours are counted as a part of the 80-hour weekly maximum.  Based on these recommendations, the ACGME has imposed new 2010 regulations that prohibit first-year residents from working shifts longer than 16 hours, senior residents must work shifts no longer than 24 hours, and shifts must be separated by a 10 hour break.  The assumption that has been made is that these duty hour restrictions will decrease resident fatigue and therefore lead to improved patient safety and improved resident education, which will eventually lead to better graduating physicians.

The reality, however, is these residency duty hour restrictions have led to neither improved patient outcomes nor improved resident education.  The data suggest that the IOMs assumptions are wrong... 

Dr. Joseph Esherick Monthly Blog – August 2011

There has been considerable interest in antibiotic stewardship programs over the past decade given the increase in drug-resistant bacteria.  The best way to combat the problem of drug-resistant bacteria is to develop systems which discourage the inappropriate initiation of antibiotics or the unnecessary prolongation of antibiotics.  The measurement of serum procalcitonin levels can aid sound clinical judgment for decisions regarding proper antibiotic use.

Procalcitonin, the precursor peptide of calcitonin, is released in response to a body’s exposure to bacterial antigens or toxins.  Furthermore, the procalcitonin levels are suppressed by exposure to cytokines activated during viral infections, namely interferon gamma.  We know that the level of procalcitonin elevation is directly correlated with the severity of the bacterial infection.^[1] In addition, procalcitonin levels rise within 6-12 hours after symptom onset of bacterial infections and decrease by about 50% per day once a bacterial infection is under control.^[2]

A number of randomized controlled trials have led to the development of procalcitonin guided clinical algorithms for various infections which have been used throughout Europe.  These protocols have led to a marked reduction in the use of antibiotics in adult patients treated in a variety of clinical settings with no increase in mortality or morbidity...

With students getting ready to go back to school, and the upcoming flu season fast approaching, August marks the annual observance of National Immunization Awareness Month (NIAM).

The goal of NIAM is to increase awareness about immunizations, and to reach the thousands of people in the U.S.  and the hundreds of thousands around the world who go unprotected from vaccine-preventable diseases that claim the lives of countless people each year. It has been proven that the best defense against contracting common viruses and diseases is for both children and adults to be immunized. In addition, a healthier population reduces healthcare costs, and results in fewer missed work and school days.

5 Key Reasons to Support Immunization Programs:

1. Immunization Saves Lives
Immunization saves more than 3 million lives worldwide each year, and it saves millions more from suffering illness and lifelong disability.

Dr. Joseph Esherick Monthly Blog – July 2011

The traditional landmark-guided needle lumbar puncture technique was first described by Heinrich Quincke in 1891^[1]This technique utilizes the iliac crest and the posterior lumbar spinous processes to determine the optimal sites for spinal needle introduction in either the L3-4 or the L2-3 interspinous spaces.  The landmark-guided technique of lumbar puncture is usually successful in experienced hands as long as the patient is not obese, pregnant, edematous, or have scoliosis, degenerative joint disease, or a history of lumbar spine surgery.  Patients who have any of these characteristics or conditions can lead to more difficult landmark-guided lumbar punctures.  It is in these cases when bedside ultrasound can increase the success rate of lumbar punctures.^[2,3,4,5]    

Ultrasound-guided regional neuraxial anesthesia has been described in the anesthesia literature since 1971.^[6]   The literature reports a reduction in the number of attempts, need for repositioning, and interspaces accessed compared with landmark-guided spinal or epidural anesthesia.^[7,8]  The use of bedside ultrasound to help guide difficult lumbar punctures has spread to the emergency room, ICU, and the hospital wards over the last 7 years.^[9]   Observational studies have demonstrated that lumbar landmarks can be correctly identified using ultrasound about 76% of the time when they are difficult to palpate.^[2,3,9]