Heat Related Illness Increase in the ER

I enjoyed talking to Bloomberg about some of the heat related issues we have seen during this ongoing climate catastrophe and the highest temperatures ever recorded.

“At Tampa General Hospital, several heat-related cases have been particularly concerning, said emergency-medicine physician Jason Wilson. Some patients had temperatures as high as 107, while others had third-degree burns from lying in the hot sun, which can happen when heat stroke alters a victim’s mental state.

Doctors sometimes take extreme measures in these cases, including implanting tubes that move cold water into a patient’s body, said Wilson, chief of the University of South Florida’s emergency medicine division, which is affiliated with the hospital.”

“While Wilson hasn’t seen the number of patients rise above past years, he said doctors are concerned and keeping an eye on the situation.

It’s “like a shark bite summer,” he said. “You kind of have to wait and see where things fall out.”’

https:/www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-07-21/emergency-rooms-swamped-as-record-100f-heat-wilts-us-south;!!PQLRnUARXRzt!76MVwhF1sN5Pgu6u4spAuIocSyCIZJI_HR-Bg2uXO0NZN1Jm_LAHbEaymmdImZCi_pIZnOxMzv1BOK8pvcVE1w$

Author: Jason Wilson, MD

Jason W. Wilson, MD, MA, FACEP is an emergency medicine physician at Tampa General Hospital. He serves as a core faculty member and Associate Professor in the Division of Emergency Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine at the Morsani College of Medicine at the University of South Florida. He also holds an affiliated faculty appointment with the Department of Anthropology at the University of South Florida. Dr. Wilson serves as the Medical Director for the Clinical Decision Unit at Tampa General Hospital as well as the Associate Medical Director for the Adult ED. In addition, Dr. Wilson is the research director for the emergency medicine residency program.