EKG Challenge No. 6 - Troubling Teenagers
You are working the day shift at Children's Hospital when you get a
medical control call from EMS. They responded to a call for "altered
behavior" at a house to find a partially-clothed and confused teenage
boy who was discovered "talking nonsense" by his parents in the living
room in the morning. They call you because the
patient is somewhat "agitated" and just won't stop picking at every line
and piece of equipment. They want your okay to give him some versed
to chill him out. You agree to 2 mg of IV versed and await his arrival in
the emergency department.
On
arrival, the patient has a dry mouth, dilated pupils, and speaks some
unclear, but seemingly pleasant gibberish. Mom, through her tears,
tells you the patient takes no medications but has "experimented with
drugs" in the past. There is radio silence when you listen for bowel
sounds and your ungloved hand meets a dry axilla. Noting his heart rate in the 140's, you decide that
it is prudent to get an EKG:
What is your differential diagnosis? What would you do next?
Leave your thoughts. Case Conclusion to be posted this Friday December 19.
Haven't visited the EKG Challenge before? Click here to be connected to previous cases.
On
arrival, the patient has a dry mouth, dilated pupils, and speaks some
unclear, but seemingly pleasant gibberish. Mom, through her tears,
tells you the patient takes no medications but has "experimented with
drugs" in the past. There is radio silence when you listen for bowel
sounds and your ungloved hand meets a dry axilla. Noting his heart rate in the 140's, you decide that
it is prudent to get an EKG:What is your differential diagnosis? What would you do next?
Leave your thoughts. Case Conclusion to be posted this Friday December 19.
Haven't visited the EKG Challenge before? Click here to be connected to previous cases.