https://paulnystrom.com/tags/acute/Recent content in Acute on Paul NystromHugoen-usSat, 10 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://paulnystrom.com/posts/my-neurosurgeon/Sat, 10 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://paulnystrom.com/posts/my-neurosurgeon/<p>I was doing a ride-along with a friend of mine who works for a suburban police department. It was a call for an elderly lady with back pain. We were the closest unit and arrived before EMS did.</p> <p>The patient was about 80 years old, lying in her bed fully dressed, simply waiting for the ambulance. She had a history of prior back surgeries and reported that she had “broken rods” in her back. She was scheduled to have another surgery in a couple of months. She had a back brace and her rolling walker at the bedside. She was very calm and reasonable. She did not have any pain at rest, but she said it hurt too much to move, so that’s why she wanted to go to the hospital. There was no report of any new trauma.</p>https://paulnystrom.com/posts/acute-and-next-steps/Sat, 13 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000https://paulnystrom.com/posts/acute-and-next-steps/<p>There are many times in the ER when I see a patient and have to pause the conversation to break it into two very distinct parts: the acute problem and the chronic problem. It may not always be a truly chronic condition, so perhaps a better way to frame it is the acute problem and the “next steps” problem.</p> <p>During a shift, I saw two patients with debilitating chronic pain.</p>