Non-rebreather Mask for Preoxygenation During Rapid Sequence Intubation

Joseph Esherick, M.D., FAAFP, FHM
More Articles – Emergency Procedures, Featured, medical procedures, Respiratory diseases
More Tags – featured, HPC updates, intubation, preoxygenation, rapid sequence intubation
With flush-rate oxygen, a non-rebreather mask was at least as good as a bag-valve-mask ventilation for intubation preoxygenation. Many intubators using the rapid sequence intubation protocol use a bag-valve-mask (BVM) for preoxygenation. But in the absence of a good mask…
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How to Differentiate Pleural Effusion Exudates from Transudates

Joseph Esherick, M.D., FAAFP, FHM
More Articles – Featured Procedure, medical procedures, Paracentesis, Thoracentesis
More Tags – HPC updates, Pleural cholesterol, pleural effusion, pleural exudate, pleural transudate
How to Differentiate Pleural Effusion Exudates from Transudates Historically, Light’s criteria have been used to classify pleural effusions into transudates or exudates.  Light’s criteria were established by Dr. Richard Light in 1972.[1]  These criteria maximize sensitivity but have a lower…
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Iso-osmolar Contrast Rarely Causes Contrast-induced Nephropathy

Joseph Esherick, M.D., FAAFP, FHM
More Articles – Emergency Procedures, Featured, medical procedures, Nephrology
More Tags – acute kidney injury, featured, HPC updates
Several studies in 2014 suggested that intravenous iodinated contrast use in computed tomography (CT) scanning was not associated with acute kidney injury.  Now, the Mayo Clinic has performed a retrospective study of data investigating 5758 adults with chronic kidney disease…
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New Two Probe Technique for Ultrasound-guided Paracentesis

Joseph Esherick, M.D., FAAFP, FHM
More Articles – Featured, medical procedures, Paracentesis
More Tags – featured, HPC updates, paracentesis
A recent study of nearly 5,000 ultrasound-guided paracenteses concluded that the risk of major bleeding can be reduced if a two probe technique is used compared with a single probe approach.  The traditional single probe approach to ultrasound-guided paracentesis utilizes…
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Avoid Routine Lab Testing in Clinically Stable Hospitalized Adults

Joseph Esherick, M.D., FAAFP, FHM
More Articles – Events, Featured, Hospital Procedures, medical procedures
More Tags – daily lab testing, featured, HPC updates
The Society of Hospital Medicine in collaboration with the Choosing Wisely organization has advocated against routine daily lab testing for hospitalized adults since September 2013.  At that time SHM wrote, “Hospitalized patients frequently have considerable volumes of blood drawn (phlebotomy)…
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