Dr Darria Long Gillespie

Dr Darria Long Gillespie ER Doc + Mom x3
Harvard & Yale MD/📖/📺
Prevent + prepare for life's little and big emergencies

06/01/2026

Choking - every parent’s fear— AND something that you CAN (and must) respond to immediately. This is one of those moments that there is NOT time to wait for EMS.

And yet - it can be confusing to remember the technique for each age.

So - here’s your quick refresher - SAVE and SHARE this!
-Infants (1) and adults: 5 back blows, 5 abdominal thrust (previously known as “Heimlich”).

Comment GUIDE if you’d like our printable “Choking + Poisoning Hazards List” that you can print + post / screenshot and share with anyone who cares for your little.

If you’d like to learn more, check out our fully virtual CPR, Choking, and Drowning course at nopanicparenting.com/courses - NOW newly available as a subscription option! (or a one-time purchase - whatever you’d prefer to make this easier for you).

Because when you know what to do, you don’t panic - you HANDLE it.

In health,
Dr. Darria

05/22/2026

HOW would an ER doctor break a watermelon?? I have IDEAS— what are yours?
(1) go donate please! (Link in bio — Even the smallest amount supports Womens heart health research for )
(2) VOTE - comment how you think I should break it as an ER doctor - or vote /comment if you like others’ suggestions!

THANK YOU - to for your support here -and ER doctors everywhere - I LOVE seeing organizations come together to support health this way!! (And feel free to tag any other ER doctors who I left off in the process of posting!)

05/21/2026

A super common (and benign!) newborn rash - Erythema Toxicum Neonatorum (or e-tox for short). 

Common facts: 
* Presents in the first 72 hours
* More common in higher birth weight, greater gestational age, or males
* Starts as small patches or papules (1-3mm diameter) that become pustules, over trunk and limbs (ie parts of the body with hair follicles), but not on hands or soles. 
* They go away after 5-7 days (and may wax/wane during that period)
* Usually no testing is required, unless your doctor is concerned about a potential other cause. 

Red flags: 
* Fever (any temp > 100.4 in an infant < 3 months is an immediate doctor visit)
* Involvement of the mouth, hands or soles of feet
* Blistering or oozing fluid
* Behavior changes, refusing to nurse / take bottle, lethargy.
* Maternal history of HSV
* Any other symptoms of illness (congestion, difficulty breathing)
* Doesn’t improve after 2 weeks

Got more rash Qs? We see ‘em all the time in the ER - send me your Qs and I’ll cover another in my next installment of WHAT THE FRUITCAKE IS THAT CHILD’S RASH? 
###, Dr. D


NO ADVICE: This resource contains general information about medical conditions and treatments for educational and entertainment purposes, and is not a substitute for hands-on training by a certified professional. The information is not advice and should not be treated as such. If experiencing a medical emergency, call 911 and seek immediate medical assistance from a healthcare professional.

05/20/2026

Share this with ALL the drivers in your family — ESPECIALLY teenage drivers.

05/19/2026

Part 4 of the mini-series!

I actually DO think there are many places to use AI in healthcare that can create a better experience and efficiencies - but it’s not by blanket “replacements”.
It’s by strategically - and dare I say surgically - finding those places where a robot does NOT replace a human - AND those places where it CAN help human processing, and creating the best combination.

More to come on this - including some work that we as emergency physicians have done to identify opportunities to leverage AI to improve care.

Now if only it could help reduce the boarding crisis in the ER. I’d LOVE to not have to take care of half of my patients in the waiting room….

05/12/2026

SOMEBODY had to say it.

And yes, maybe you think I’m a party pooper. But, I’ve seen kids injured by these- and as a parent, if *my* child were at risk and I didn’t realize, I would 100% want someone to help me know.

Do you deal with this in your area? I KNOW there’s something really fun about driving a golf cart and it feels like a harkening back to simpler times - but it’s just not safe when you’re on the road with major cars and the way people drive them now on major streets. Thoughts?

Research graphs source: Lamb, Callista, Dr. Kalyani Sonawane, Mary Beth Vassy. “Analyzing Pediatric Level 1 Trauma Registry Data on Golf Cart Injuries to Inform Community Outreach and Injury Prevention Strategies”. MUSC.
Special thanks for great research to . Also and .maneeshaagarwal

05/08/2026

My “I fell asleep in the middle of an ER shift has now bumped out the “I overslept and am late for my flight” nightmare. 🤣

What’s YOURS?

05/07/2026

The phrases “dry drowning” and “secondary drowning” are EVERYWHERE on social media. But they’re not medical phrases - AND they distract parents.

Here’s what you ACTUALLY need to know for how to respond and when to seek care.
FACT: Most children who develop severe outcomes from a submersion, will have symptoms IMMEDIATELY.
FACT: There is a very small % that will develop symptoms over time - this is where the “dry” and “Secondary drowning” confusion comes - but, according to studies, children who developed severe symptoms do so within 6-8 hours. Not DAYS.
Here’s exactly what symptoms to look for:
(1) IMMEDIATELY:
• Significant or worsening cough - anything worse than just “drinking something that went down the wrong tube”. They’re distressed, gasping, breathing quickly, shallowly, flared nostrils or retractions, or can’t get a breath. Or (if the child is old enough to tell you), a feeling that they’re having trouble breathing.
• Blue lips/ blue around the lips
• Vomiting
• Mental status changes - they’re lethargic, not responding normally, or just not acting like themselves. (ie: this is the parent who says “I know my child, and he’s not right” - THAT is the 6th vital sign to me).
(2) Over the next 6-8 hours: If your child doesn’t have any of the signs above immediately, but you feel like they swallowed more than just a few seconds of “water going down the wrong tube” or are just concerned, watch for these same symptoms over the next 6-8 hours.
Please SAVE THIS and share with other parents - the more we can fight incorrect information about water safety, the more children we can protect.
NO ADVICE: This resource contains general information about medical conditions and treatments for educational and entertainment purposes, and is not a substitute for hands-on training by a certified professional. The information is not advice and should not be treated as such. If experiencing a medical emergency, call 911 and seek immediate medical assistance from a healthcare professional.

05/05/2026

According to this study, AI came up with better diagnoses than ER physicians.
EXCEPT that….

(1) the # of physicians used? TWO. �(2) Those two weren’t even ER physicians.�(3) It misunderstands the ER job: I’m not always making the final diagnosis—that can take days. My job is to stabilize, treat what I can, and decide who needs admission vs. safe discharge—all with incomplete, messy, real-time data.
(4) AI was given the data GATHERED by ER doctors. It didn’t gather it - it just monday-morning quarterbacked.

So the takeaway? Not clinically relevant.
I filmed this before the study dropped, but wanted to address it quickly.ďż˝
Got questions? Send them—I’ll cover them in a deeper dive.

OK - so here was the ORIGINAL caption planned for this post - (back to your previously scheduled programming)
* Hallucination in medicine is not a cute bug.
* “Kussmaul Beck’s Syndrome” and “Cushing’s Diad”? Those are real medical terms, but I mixed them into combinations that don’t mean anything. (And Cushing’s is a triad, if you’d like to know…).
* But if you didn’t know the medicine, the AI certainly sounded convincing.
* That’s the point.
* Physicians still have to KNOW the medicine - SOMEONE has to man the store.
* Separate that, medicine is decision-making under uncertainty. A patient is crashing - I dont have time to look anything up; I have to rapidly estimate what’s happening and act. That time-compressed decision-making is a different kind of intelligence from information retrieval.
* Where AI can help: review charts, synthesize literature, reduce cognitive load, support decisions, reduce charting time
* What I DON’T need is AI creating more work because I have to fact-check it. That’s not a tool — it’s a hindrance.
* Hallucination in medicine is not harmless,
* which is why my plea to anyone building in this space is simple:
* Above all, be accurate. Because “first, do no harm” shouldn’t stop with humans

PS check out for a great study summary!

05/05/2026

My ?

48 patients in the waiting room, two traumas coming, CPR in-progress.

Styled with a stethoscope, ID, and 20 years of experience.

My “team”? the most amazing team of nurses, other doctors, techs, pharmacists, respiratory therapists, environmental services, and unit secretaries.

No costumes necessary.

Address

Atlanta, GA

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Dr Darria Long Gillespie posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category