Beyond the Basics: A Novel Approach to Integrating a Social Determinants of Health Curriculum into an Emergency Medicine Course.

Background: Our aim was to implement and evaluate a novel social determinants of health (SDoH) curriculum into the required fourth-year emergency medicine (EM) course at the University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine with the goal to teach students how to assess and address SDoH in clinical practice. The objectives were as follows: 1. Assess the SDoH, risk factors, and barriers to healthcare facing patients from diverse socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds in the ED.

Environmental Toxic Exposures Using Companion Animals as an Indicator of Human Toxicity: A Case Report and Discussion.

Background: Hundreds of years ago, humans realized that animals could be used as surrogate indicators of toxic environmental exposures, as a tool to measure risk to human health. The classic example is coal miners bringing canaries into coal mines. The respiratory rate and metabolism of the animal resulted in toxic signs of injurious gases in the environment before humans were injured.

Disulfiram and Hypotension in a 53-year-old Woman.

We describe a case of disulfiram-ethanol reaction in a patient presenting with altered mental status. The patient was found to be profoundly hypotensive, requiring multiple vasopressor agents. As the symptoms associated with disulfiram reaction are non-specific, it is important to maintain a high level of suspicion for drug reaction when caring for the undifferentiated altered and hypotensive patient.