Shortness of breath (SOB), also medically known as dyspnea (AmE) or dyspnoea (BrE), is an uncomfortable feeling of not being able to breathe well enough. The American Thoracic Society defines it as "a subjective experience of breathing discomfort that consists of qualitatively distinct sensations that vary in intensity", and recommends evaluating dyspnea by assessing the intensity of its distinct sensations, the degree of distress and discomfort involved, and its burden or impact on the patient's activities of daily living. Distinct sensations include effort/work to breathe, chest tightness or pain, and "air hunger". The tripod position is often assumed to be a sign.
Polyuria is excessive or an abnormally large production or passage of urine. Increased production and passage of urine may also be termed diuresis. Polyuria often appears in conjunction with polydipsia, though it is possible to have one without the other, and the latter may be a cause or an effect. Primary polydipsia may lead to polyuria. Polyuria is usually viewed as a symptom or sign of another disorder, but it can be classed as a disorder, at least when its underlying causes are not clear.
Tularemia, also known as rabbit fever, is an infectious disease caused by the bacterium Francisella tularensis. Symptoms may include fever, skin ulcers, and enlarged lymph nodes. Occasionally, a form that results in pneumonia or a throat infection may occur.
A psammoma body is a round collection of calcium, seen microscopically. The term is derived from the Greek word ψάμμος (psámmos), meaning "sand".
Scleritis is a serious inflammatory disease that affects the white outer coating of the eye, known as the sclera. The disease is often contracted through association with other diseases of the body, such as granulomatosis with polyangiitis or rheumatoid arthritis. There are three types of scleritis: diffuse scleritis, nodular scleritis, and necrotizing scleritis. Scleritis may be the first symptom of onset of connective tissue disease.
Ragavendra R. Baliga, FACC, FACP, FRCP (Edin) is a Professor of Medicine at The Ohio State University School of Medicine in Columbus, Ohio. He is a consulting editor of Heart Failure Clinics of North America, an indexed medical journal along with James B. Young, MD, Executive Dean, Lerner College of Medicine, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio. This is journal is known for editorials championing novel and esoteric mechanisms pertaining to cardiac function including ‘The Heart as the Concertina Pump’ and suggesting that stiffness of the great arteries contribute to cardiorenal syndrome. The most provocative editorial is a recent one that discusses the role of implantable cardiac defibrillators in sudden death. He is also Vice-Chief of the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, at The Ohio State University of Medical Center.
Venous cutdown is an emergency procedure in which the vein is exposed surgically and then a cannula is inserted into the vein under direct vision. It is used to get vascular access in trauma and hypovolemic shock patients when peripheral cannulation is difficult or impossible. The saphenous vein is most commonly used. This procedure has fallen out of favor with the development of safer techniques for central venous catheterization such as the Seldinger technique, the modified Seldinger technique, intraosseous infusion, as well as the use of ultrasound guidance for placement of central venous catheters without using the cutdown technique.
Emergency ultrasound employing point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) is the application of ultrasound at the point of care to make immediate patient-care decisions. It is performed by the health care professional caring for the injured or ill persons. This point-of-care use of ultrasound is often to evaluate an emergency medical condition, in settings such as an emergency department, critical care unit, ambulance, or combat zone.
Leonard A. Cole, an American dentist, political scientist and expert on bioterrorism and terror medicine. He is adjunct professor of political science at Rutgers University-Newark, New Jersey and of emergency medicine at the Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. A pioneer in developing the field of terror medicine, he is founding Director of the Program on Terror Medicine and Security at the medical school.
Disaster medicine is the area of medical specialization serving the dual areas of providing health care to disaster survivors and providing medically related disaster preparation, disaster planning, disaster response and disaster recovery leadership throughout the disaster life cycle. Disaster medicine specialists provide insight, guidance and expertise on the principles and practice of medicine both in the disaster impact area and healthcare evacuation receiving facilities to emergency management professionals, hospitals, healthcare facilities, communities and governments. The disaster medicine specialist is the liaison between and partner to the medical contingency planner, the emergency management professional, the incident command system, government and policy makers.
Lipodermatosclerosis is a skin and connective tissue disease. It is a form of lower extremity panniculitis, an inflammation of the layer of fat under the epidermis.
A mass casualty incident describes an incident in which emergency medical services resources, such as personnel and equipment, are overwhelmed by the number and severity of casualties. For example, an incident where a two-person crew is responding to a motor vehicle collision with three severely injured people could be considered a mass casualty incident. The general public more commonly recognizes events such as building collapses, train and bus collisions, plane crashes, earthquakes and other large-scale emergencies as mass casualty incidents. Events such as the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 and the September 11 attacks in 2001 are well-publicized examples of mass casualty incidents. The most common types of MCIs are generally caused by terrorism, mass-transportation accidents, fires or natural disasters. A multiple casualty incident is one in which there are multiple casualties. However the key difference from a mass casualty incident is that in a multiple casualty incident the resources available are sufficient to manage the needs of the victims. The issue of resource availability is therefore critical to the understanding of these concepts. One crosses over from a multiple to a mass casualty incident when resources are exceeded and the systems are overwhelmed.
Catherine (Kate) Elizabeth Ulbricht is a co-founder of the Natural Standard Research Collaboration. She is a Senior Attending Pharmacist at Massachusetts General Hospital. She serves on the editorial board of Harvard Health Publications, the Journal of the American Nutraceutical Association, and Pharmacy Practice News. She is editor in chief of the Journal of Dietary Supplements.
A joint effusion is the presence of increased intra-articular fluid. It may affect any joint. Commonly it involves the knee.
The Physician to the President is the formal and official title of the physician who is chosen by the President to be his personal physician. Often, the Physician to the President also serves as Director of the White House Medical Unit, a unit of the White House Military Office responsible for the medical needs of the President of the United States, Vice President, White House staff, and visitors. The Physician to the President is also the Chief White House Physician.
Dr. Ravindra Nanda is a professor and Head of the Department of Craniofacial Sciences and Chair of the Division of Orthodontics at the University of Connecticut School of Dental Medicine. He is part of the founding faculty of School of Dental Medicine and has been at the University of Connecticut since 1972 where he also holds an Alumni Chair in the Orthodontics Division. He is an innovator of various appliances in orthodontics. His research and clinical interests include adolescent and adult orthodontics, the biology of tooth mobility, craniofacial orthopedics, biomechanics and developing efficient mechanics to deliver orthodontic care.
Andy S. Jagoda, M.D., is an American author and Professor and Chair Emeritus of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. He has edited and authored 14 books, including The Good Housekeeping Family First Aid Book (ISBN 0-688-17894-4) and the textbook Neurologic Emergencies (ISBN 0-07-140292-6). He is an editor of the 9th edition of Rosen’s Emergency Medicine (ISBN 978-0-323-05472-0).
A splinter is a fragment of a larger object, or a foreign body that penetrates or is purposely injected into a body. The foreign body must be lodged inside tissue to be considered a splinter. Splinters may cause initial pain through ripping of flesh and muscle, or infection through bacteria on the foreign object.
Joseph F. Waeckerle is an American physician specializing in emergency and sports medicine. He directed the search and rescue efforts at the Hyatt Regency walkway collapse in Kansas City, Missouri on July 17, 1981. He is currently Clinical Professor of Emergency Medicine, University of Missouri–Kansas City School of Medicine and Editor Emeritus of Annals of Emergency Medicine. He previously served as Chief Medical Officer for the Office of Homeland Security, State of Missouri and Medical Officer for the Kansas City Division of the FBI.
Gregory R. Ciottone is an American physician specializing in disaster medicine and counter-terrorism medicine. He is an associate professor of emergency medicine at Harvard Medical School and the founding director of the BIDMC Fellowship in Disaster Medicine, the first of its kind in a Harvard teaching hospital. As well, he holds the position of director for medical preparedness at the National Preparedness Leadership Initiative, a joint program of the Harvard T.H.Chan School of Public Health and the Center for Public Leadership at the Harvard John F. Kennedy School of Government. He also serves as a consultant to the White House Medical Unit for the Obama, Trump, and Biden administrations. In 2019 he was elected president of the World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine. (WADEM).
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