“It would be unusual to go too many shifts as an emergency medicine provider without seeing the classic elderly female patient with hip pain after a fall. On exam, the patient would likely be uncomfortable with their hip appearing shortened and externally rotated on exam. Before you even view the X-ray, you know they likely fractured their hip. You ascertain whether it was a mechanical fall, if there were other injuries, if the injury is open or closed and if the patient is neurovascularly intact. You proceed to order your imaging and consider your plan for pain control. Sound familiar…”
Read MoreA four-year-old female with no medical history presented to the emergency department with right leg pain and refusal to walk after falling while in her father’s arms. She was being carried by her father down a flight of outdoor concrete stairs when he slipped on black ice and her leg struck the ground. The patient refused to walk after the fall and her mother noted that her leg had been “cracking” since the accident…
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