Posts in Social EM
Domestic Violence and the Emergency Department Patient

A 25-year-old woman with a past medical history of anxiety presents to the emergency department with right sided chest pain. She describes approximately two hours prior to arrival, she tripped in the bathroom while bathing her child, striking the right side of her chest on the tub. She denies head strike or loss of consciousness, shortness of breath or abdominal pain…

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Health Inequity and Social Emergency Medicine

A thin 27-year-old male with no known past medical history presented to the ED for evaluation of 3 days of fever and several weeks of fatigue. Associated symptoms included nausea, diarrhea, and a 15 pound weight loss. On further questioning, the patient reported food and housing insecurity. He stated he was living at a bathhouse and had multiple male sexual partners in the past month. He smokes cigarettes and endorses occasional alcohol and drug use. He stated that he has no source of income or cell phone, and reported being estranged from many family and friends…

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Disparities in Diagnostic Imaging in the ED: A Brief Review of Recent Literature from 2018-2022

Research has demonstrated significant disparities in healthcare access and quality as well as health outcomes for communities that have been historically marginalized or excluded. Diagnostic imaging—and differences in clinical decision-making around which patients undergo imaging and when—is one such area that has been a topic of interest in recent literature…

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