Tactical Medicine News Blog

procedure, Tricks of the Trade
Trick of the Trade: Valsalva maneuver by pressing on the abdomen
A patient presents to triage in rapid SVT rhythm. While you are trying to get an IV in the patient and drawing up adenosine, you have the patient perform a...
Michelle Lin, MD | June 19, 2012
procedure, Tricks of the Trade
Trick of the Trade: "Punch out" the foreign body
A patient re-presents to the Emergency Department with a foreign body sensation in his heel after stepping on a broken window. Despite a negative xray and bedside ultrasound yesterday, the...
Michelle Lin, MD | June 12, 2012
procedure, Tricks of the Trade
Trick of the Trade: Hair tourniquet release
A 3 month old baby presents with distal erythema and swelling of one of her toes. A hair tourniquet is identified. Typically one can try manually unwrapping the tourniquet using...
Michelle Lin, MD | June 5, 2012
procedure, Tricks of the Trade
Trick of the Trade: Mark your sites with a Sharpie
Marking the surface anatomy for procedures can significantly increase your chances for success, such as for lumbar punctures and central lines. I can never seem to find surgical skin markers. ...
Michelle Lin, MD | May 29, 2012
ENT, procedure, Tricks of the Trade
Trick of the Trade: Ear foreign body
Sometimes classic techniques need to be revisited, especially when I get new photos from the collective readership. Let’s review a painless way to remove beads from the ear canal. You...
Michelle Lin, MD | May 22, 2012
ENT, Tricks of the Trade
Trick of the Trade: Stabilizing mandibular relocations
Three weeks ago, I talked about more safely reducing mandibular dislocations. After successful completion of the procedure, how do you make sure that the patient doesn’t re-dislocate the mandible? You...
Michelle Lin, MD | May 15, 2012
procedure, Tricks of the Trade
Trick of the Trade: Bend the IV angiocatheter
You identify a great external jugular (EJ) vein to cannulate for IV access. You are having a hard time keeping the angle of the angiocatheter aimed at a shallow angle...
Michelle Lin, MD | May 8, 2012
procedure, Social Media & Tech, Tricks of the Trade
Trick of the Trade: Seldinger chest tube technique using bougie
A 40 year-old man presents with a traumatic hemopneumothorax. He weighs 400 pounds. Chest tubes can sometimes be challenge, especially for those with extra redundant tissue to tunnel through before...
Michelle Lin, MD | May 1, 2012
ENT, procedure, Tricks of the Trade
Trick of the Trade: Protecting your thumbs in mandible relocations
Does anyone think that this is generally a bad idea when closed-reducing mandible dislocations? Yes, it's easiest to apply downward pressure on the mandible by pushing down on the occlusal...
Michelle Lin, MD | April 24, 2012
ENT, procedure, Tricks of the Trade
Trick of the Trade: Peritonsillar abscess aspiration technique using IV tubing
A few weeks ago, I gave a Tricks of the Trade talk for the Stanford-Kaiser Emergency Medicine residents and faculty. I was overwhelmed by the great, creative ideas that came...
Michelle Lin, MD | April 17, 2012
Expert Peer Reviewed (Clinical), Ob/Gyn, Tricks of the Trade
Trick of the Trade: Urine pregnancy test without urine
A 25 year old woman presents to the Emergency Department having syncopized in the waiting room, where she was triaged with the chief complaint of abdominal pain. Ectopic pregnancy immediately...
Michelle Lin, MD | April 10, 2012
Ophthalmology, Tricks of the Trade
Trick of the Trade: Fluorescein eyedrops
This is a guest post by Dr. Ian Brown (Stanford): The Roberts textbook describes the procedure of corneal fluorescein staining as touching a moistened fluorescein strip to the cornea. Maybe...
Michelle Lin, MD | March 27, 2012
ENT, procedure, Tricks of the Trade
Trick of the Trade: Pelvic speculum for peritonsillar abscess
Peritonsillar abscess drainage in the ED continues to be one of my favorite procedures to perform. There are several tricks to increase your chances for a successful aspiration. One trick...
Michelle Lin, MD | March 20, 2012

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Tactical Medicine News Blog