need a ER doctor or some one who works in ER

[nec209]

After watching many programs on discovery health like trauma in ER ,code blue ,mystery diagnosis so on.Reading books and blogs so on.

 

Doctors say it could be infection or not or say it looks like a infection not sure what type of infection.Or they say ya white count is up or do a LP spine.Or they say he has the symptoms of a infection .

 

I'm confused :eek:I thought they do blood work to find out if it is a infection or not and type of infection .And I thought doctors do not give meds to they know what type of infection .

 

what is the confusion if it is a infection or not or a confusion of what type of confusion .

 

If I got sick and go to ER and the doctor should have no problem if TB ,HIV, swine flue or what ever.

 

Is a infection not true science? Also friend I know had a hernia and seen like 5 doctors before a diagnosis and the doctor was saying that a hernia is hard to tell.

 

Is it true hernia is hard to tell or did he get bad doctors ?

[Double K]

I'm no ER doctor, but there are some pretty simple tests for herniation.

One is looking at it, you can see clearly a large hernia and they are quite obvious, but a smaller hernia would be hard to see, and the next one is the ol' cup the scrotum and cough test. There's also many different kinds of hernia, and the obvious ones are the easy ones to catch but the internal ones are much harder to diagnose and require some pretty intense testing that obviously in an ER situation they wont have time to do.

 

"there are two ways to test for a hiatal hernia. A barium x-ray requires drinking a chalky liquid containing barium and taking x-rays to identify the outline of the esophagus and stomach.

 

an inguinal hernia is most common in the intestine. This protrusion through the lower abdominal wall can be very painful. The only test that is usually required is a physical exam that includes coughing or straining to make the hernia more prominent

 

Tell your pediatrician if you notice your baby's bellybutton protruding when she cries. This may indicate the presence of an umbilical hernia. Imaging studies may be a required test to rule out complications. Umbilical hernias are also found in adults.

 

it may be necessary for a surgeon to do a laparoscopic exam when symptoms suggest a hernia, but no test is available to confirm the diagnosis. This is a possibility when there's a need to differentiate between pain from internal adhesions from a prior surgery and incisional hernia pain"

 

(http://www.ehow.com/how_2056202_test-hernia.html)

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

There's many kinds of infections. It would take a long time to test for every different kind. You have to narrow it down by other signs and symptoms.

[Variola]

After watching many programs on discovery health like trauma in ER ,code blue ,mystery diagnosis so on.Reading books and blogs so on.

 

Doctors say it could be infection or not or say it looks like a infection not sure what type of infection.Or they say ya white count is up or do a LP spine.Or they say he has the symptoms of a infection .

 

I'm confused :eek:I thought they do blood work to find out if it is a infection or not and type of infection .And I thought doctors do not give meds to they know what type of infection .

 

what is the confusion if it is a infection or not or a confusion of what type of confusion .

 

If I got sick and go to ER and the doctor should have no problem if TB ,HIV, swine flue or what ever.

 

Is a infection not true science? Also friend I know had a hernia and seen like 5 doctors before a diagnosis and the doctor was saying that a hernia is hard to tell.

 

Is it true hernia is hard to tell or did he get bad doctors ?

 

 

 

I am not totally sure of your question, but I will try and answer it as best I can.

 

Basically the body will send out an immune response to an infection, to kill off the pathogens/antigens, munch up any debris left behind and to instruct infected cells to die.

But the immune response is difficult judge from the outside, if you have a cut on your hand and it becomes infected, it will become red, swollen and warm to the touch, indicating that the macrophages are fighting the infection. However you cannot see that internally, so as you point out, Doctors rely on bloodwork, spinal taps etc to determine if there is an infection, and often what type of infection, viral or bacterial etc. But because of the way the immune system works, it isn't always clear what type of infection it is, or importantly where it is in the body. The symptoms of an internal infection can also be mimicked by other diseases too, cancer for example can invoke an immune response.

As for giving meds it can take a while before bloodwork results come back, and it can take even longer to grown a culture of bacteria to determine what type of infection it is, Doctors like to start broad spectrum antibiotics as soon as possible to start fighting the infection.

 

last thing to remember is that TV progs, even documentary-type ones are not wholly accurate

[Mr Skeptic]

Doctors say it could be infection or not or say it looks like a infection not sure what type of infection.Or they say ya white count is up or do a LP spine.Or they say he has the symptoms of a infection .

 

I'm confused :eek:I thought they do blood work to find out if it is a infection or not and type of infection .And I thought doctors do not give meds to they know what type of infection .

 

I doubt bloodwork would tell you what kind of infection you have; many infections are not in the blood. If you have septicemia you will be very sick indeed. There are lots of different types of infection, and as far as I know tests are either specific to the pathogen and fairly quick, or involve culturing which can take days.

 

A doctor need not know exactly what bacteria he's dealing with in order to prescribe medications. Penicillin, for example, works against about half the bacteria types (those with a cell wall). That sort of antibiotic is called broad-spectrum.

 

Sometimes doctors prescribe medications they know that the patient does not need, such as antibiotics for the common cold. Many patients don't like to be told that there is no cure but just rest a few days and your body will fight it off. These patients might switch doctors or even try to sue the doctor if he doesn't give them fake meds to pacify them.

[Variola]

I doubt bloodwork would tell you what kind of infection you have; many infections are not in the blood. If you have septicemia you will be very sick indeed. There are lots of different types of infection, and as far as I know tests are either specific to the pathogen and fairly quick, or involve culturing which can take days.

 

It is worth bearing in mind that WBC count can tell a moderate amount about what type of infection you have, simply by looking at which type is raised and in what ratio to the others. Or if you are expressing a particular type of antibody, or it can give some indication of any bacteria in the blood, not necessarily septicemia.

It can also be used to assay the response of the immune system, and the possibility of sepsis occurring or has occurred.

[Rickdog]

For the record, Septicemia, by medical definition, is and implies an infection in the blood.

[RN2premed]

I have been an ER nurse for a few years, so I'll give you my take, if I'm understanding your question correctly.

 

Basically, treating an infection in the ER without cultures, is usually due to time sensitive needs.

 

If the person come is very sick looking and with high WBC count, there are a few types of infections such as bacterial meningitis, that will kill you fairly quickly if not treated. As you probably know, cultures of any kind will take at least 24 hours. The patient may not have that much time if he is left untreated. This is especially important for very young infants with fever, antibiotics must be started ASAP, we cannot wait for cultures to rule out viral vs. bacterial infection.

 

Low glucose in cerebrospinal fluid can indicate bacterial infection, so broad spectrum antibiotics will be started. Blood cultures are read at 24 hours, but are usually negative, then again for final read at 48 hours.

 

Certain infections will cause specific symptoms and will be treated as such until proven otherwise