We need to talk about something: misinformation. 

Unfortunately, the world is full of it and we cannot seem to stop ourselves. The Internet was one of the greatest inventions brought forth to the modern world to allow for the rapid sharing of scientific information. We have bastardized it in time to now spread hate and grossly incorrect information. What was once a way to spread knowledge is now attacking science and what we have learned.

Rule out criteria have many benefits, but they are not perfect.  Sometimes, they can miss an important disease process or problem.  Those who provide care to patients must use them wisely.  In this post, the discussion is aimed to help explain the purpose of rule out criteria as well as their pearls and pitfalls.

Anaphylaxis is an immediately life-threatening allergic reaction.  If left untreated, there is a real risk for death.  In this first ever Patient and Provider podcast and blog post we talk about what happens during anaphylaxis and how to receive the proper care to stay alive and get treated safely.  

This is our logo.  You may have noticed it from recent postings on Twitter and Facebook.  Thanks to Logan Featherston, a scribe at one of the departments I work in, he was able to help out and create a logo.  The logo was thought of in my head, but needed someone with actual artistic ability to be something that would look good, and Logan made it great.  

Before we go too far into this topic, I want to make one thing very clear.  You know your medical history and the way your body feels better than anyone else.  With that said, if you feel like you need to go to a higher level of acuity setting  than recommended, we are not discouraging you from that.  This post is simply to help you understand what constitutes a complaint that an emergency department (ED) will be most concerned about and will try to address first.

For my first educational post under the "For the Public" section, the topic of physician assistant (PA) seemed to be an important one.  This site is run by a PA who practices emergency medicine.  Answering the question "What is a PA?" comes up rather frequently.  Although there are many resources to help answer this question, there is quite honestly no easy answer which fully encompasses the role.  

We are always looking for information that the public wants in order to be informed in emergency medicine.  There are many topics that can always be discussed and we want to provide accurate information to our viewers.  

This section will most likely not be as frequently updated as our other sections.  However, we will do our best to keep you informed.  Please keep in mind that just like any other part of our website, the information is geared for a specific audience.  We cannot always guarantee that our information will always be fully up-to-date and 100% accurate since medical information is constantly being advanced.  However, we will try our best to keep you informed correctly.  

If you have topics that are of interest to you, please comment below or post on one of our many social media outlets such as Twitter or Facebook.  We encourage the same for our medical professionals.