Summary
We're back with a podcast on...dizziness! While weak and dizzy is almost never the most exciting chart in the rack, we see it a lot in the ED. This is a chief complaint where we have to be on the lookout for the serious causes of dizziness among the avalanche of not-so-serious causes of dizziness. First- what does the patient mean by "I feel dizzy"? This seems like a silly question because just about everyone has felt "dizzy" before but if you get it wrong, you'll go down the completely wrong diagnostic path.
One small self-promotion- The new academic year is just about to start so if you like the podcast, please tell your colleagues, classmates, and especially the new medical students and interns.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is Steve Carroll for the EM Basic Podcast. Today we're going to talk about dizziness. |
| 0:06.0 | I know that some of you just groaned because weak and dizzy is almost always the least exciting chart in the rack, but we see this complain a lot. |
| 0:13.0 | I think of dizziness the same way I think about syncope. Most of the causes of dizziness are benign, but there are a small percentage of patients with serious pathology that we have to pick up. |
| 0:23.3 | Today we'll talk about how to take a good history and do a good exam, how to pick up the |
| 0:28.2 | red flags, and how to treat and disposition patients with dizziness. |
| 0:32.5 | Before we get started, I just wanted to apologize for how long it has been since the last |
| 0:36.2 | podcast. |
| 0:37.4 | I graduated from residency on June 8th, and it has been since the last podcast. I graduated from |
| 0:38.3 | residency on June 8th, and it has been a very busy time. For my first assignment, I will be heading just up the road to Fort Hood, Texas, to function as the brigade surgeon for a cavalry unit. |
| 0:48.3 | Basically, I will be the doctor in charge of a whole bunch of active duty soldiers, but I will also have some clinical time in the |
| 0:55.2 | ED as well. But don't worry, I still plan on continuing the podcast during my new job, |
| 1:00.6 | but the episodes may be a little sporadic while I get settled. The good news is that for the next |
| 1:05.4 | two months or so, I have a lighter schedule before I start my new job, so I may be able to |
| 1:10.1 | pump out a few more episodes, |
| 1:11.6 | but no promises at the moment. As always, this podcast doesn't represent the views or opinions of |
| 1:16.0 | the Department of Defense, the U.S. Army of the Shawshack EM residency. So let's get started with |
| 1:20.6 | the patient with the chief complaint of dizziness. The first thing to do is to really scrutinize |
| 1:25.1 | the triage node. Make sure you have a clear picture of what |
| 1:28.1 | the patient told the triage nurse so you don't miss anything. I've seen a few M&M conferences with |
| 1:33.3 | the chief complaint of dizziness where a complaint in the triage note or the nursing notes |
| 1:37.3 | was ignored or not adequately addressed. For example, the fact that a patient had dizziness, |
| 1:43.2 | but also complaint of weakness in an |
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