Primary Care Update: Adult & Pediatric Emergency Medicine (Aug 29–31, 2025 · Big Sky, MT)

Objectives

• Apply guidelines in the management of children with head injury (including when to order a head CT) and Return-to-Play/Return-to-Learn decisions.

• Summarize which conditions can be identified by each step of a thorough pediatric eye exam and when to refer.

• Use rapid decision-making for children with signs of surgical emergencies; choose appropriate diagnostics and avoid delays.

• Improve diagnostic accuracy using the SPIT differential and Four-Stops medical decision-making tools, prioritizing high-risk and common conditions.

• Describe implicit bias and its impact on clinical decisions, patient interactions, and outcomes.

• Discuss age-related factors complicating decisions in older adults and recognize emergencies in cancer patients and elder abuse.

• Recognize barriers to clinical reasoning and understand how AI can help (and its limitations, including bias/hallucinations).

Topics Covered

• Concussions & Head Injury in Children: Return-to-Play/Return-to-Learn; imaging utilization.

• Pediatric Eye Emergencies: Exam steps; infections/trauma; periorbital vs orbital infections; referral thresholds.

• Minimizing Medical Error: Implicit bias; common cognitive errors; SPIT & Four-Stops tools.

• A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing (Parts 1 & 2): Benign complaints (sore throat, musculoskeletal pain, headache) that may hide serious disease; structured evaluation using SPIT/Four-Stops.

• Evaluating High-Risk Patients: Older adults’ pitfalls; emergencies in oncology patients; recognizing elder abuse.

• AI as a Partner in Clinical Reasoning: Real-case use, benefits, challenges, limitations.

• The Febrile Young Infant (<8 weeks): Current evidence; decade of practice evolution; AAP guidance.

• Does My Patient Need Surgery? (Pediatrics): Rapid recognition; appropriate tests; preventing diagnostic delay.

• Visual Diagnosis (Pediatrics): Pattern recognition; key history questions.

• Travel-Related Illnesses: Risk factors; malaria workup; prevention strategies.

• In-Flight Emergencies: Good Samaritan law; clinician obligations; types and incidence of events.