Pain control is an essential component of musculoskeletal injury treatment in the emergency department (ED). We evaluated the most effective type of cryotherapy for analgesia of acute musculoskeletal injury and the impact on opioid utilization.
While trauma prognostication and triage scores have been designed for use in lower-resourced healthcare settings specifically, the comparative clinical performance between trauma-specific and general triage scores for risk-stratifying injured patients in such settings is not well understood. This study evaluated the Kampala Trauma Score (KTS), Revised Trauma Score (RTS), and Triage Early Warning Score (TEWS) for accuracy in predicting mortality among injured patients seeking emergency department (ED) care at the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Kigali (CHUK) in Rwanda.
Crowding in the emergency department (ED) impacts a number of important quality and safety metrics. We studied ED crowding measures associated with adverse events (AE) resulting from central venous catheters (CVC) inserted in the ED, as well as the relationship between crowding and the frequency of CVC insertions in an ED cohort admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU).
Patient navigation programs can help people overcome barriers to outpatient care. Patient experiences with these programs are not well understood. The goal of this study was to understand patient experiences and satisfaction with an emergency department (ED)-initiated patient navigation (ED-PN) intervention for US Medicaid-enrolled frequent ED users.
Wrestling is one of the fastest-growing sports among females in the United States (US). However, female wrestling injuries remain poorly characterized. In this study we describe historical and projected national estimates of female wrestling injuries, and compare injury characteristics with those of male wrestlers.
The handover process in the emergency department (ED) is relevant for patient outcomes and lays the foundation for adequate patient care. The aim of this study was to examine the current prehospital to ED handover practice with regard to content, structure, and scope.
We thank the authors for their insights and for sharing this case. The authors describe a patient who was intubated with the endotracheal tube (ETT) located at the tip of the carina, thereby allowing for bilateral lung sliding, while placing the ETT at risk of converting to a mainstem intubation.
In the recent edition of the Western Journal of Emergency Medicine, Gottlieb and colleagues discuss point of care ultrasound (POCUS) confirmation of intubation.1 Up to 25% of intubations using the classic formula of endotracheal tube (ETT) depth equal to three times the ETT diameter are inappropriately positioned,2 and 35–60% of mainstem intubations are missed by auscultation.1 Therefore, chest radiograph (CXR) has traditionally been used for confirmation of appropriate ETT placement.
We thank the authors for their interest in our article, and for highlighting some important limitations of our work. 1 We are grateful for the opportunity to address these concerns further.
Regarding the authors’ first concern, indeed we already acknowledge in our limitations section that many of our patients did not receive continuous cardiac monitoring, and asymptomatic events could have been missed. While the clinical importance of asymptomatic self-terminating dysrhythmias is debatable, this question has fortunately been addressed by the DORM II investigators, who prospectively studied patients receiving droperidol for acute behavioral disturbance in multiple Australian emergency departments (ED). All patients in that study were initially treated in a critical care bed and attached to a cardiac monitor. When available, continuous ECG recordings were later analyzed, no patients had dysrhythmias, and while QT prolongation was observed the investigators found it was frequently due to causes other than droperidol. 2 We believe the incidence of such transient asymptomatic dysrhythmias in our study is likely miniscule.
We read with interest the recent article discussing QT prolongation and torsade des pointes (TdP) and droperidol.1 The paucity of readily available antipsychotics and antiemetics that are not associated with QT prolongation makes selection of an appropriate pharmaceutical challenging in ideal situations and decidedly complex when confronted with an agitated, delirious, or intoxicated patient.
Emergency department (ED) patients are frequently ventilated with excessively large tidal volumes for predicted body weight based on height, which has been linked to poorer patient outcomes. We hypothesized that supplying tape measures to respiratory therapists (RT) would improve measurement of actual patient height and adherence to a lung-protective ventilation strategy in an ED-intensive care unit (ICU) environment.
Patients with spontaneous intracranial hemorrhage (sICH) are associated with high mortality and require early neurosurgical interventions. At our academic referral center, the neurocritical care unit (NCCU) receives patients directly from referring facilities. However, when no NCCU bed is immediately available, patients are initially admitted to the critical care resuscitation unit (CCRU). We hypothesized that the CCRU expedites transfer of sICH patients and facilitates timely external ventricular drain (EVD) placement comparable to the NCCU.
The ultrasound measurement of inferior vena cava (IVC) diameter change during respiratory phase to guide fluid resuscitation in shock patients is widely performed, but the benefit on reducing the mortality of sepsis patients is questionable. The study objective was to evaluate the 30-day mortality rate of patients with sepsis-induced tissue hypoperfusion (SITH) and septic shock (SS) treated with ultrasound-guided fluid management (UGFM) using ultrasonographic change of the IVC diameter during respiration compared with those treated with the usual-care strategy.
The goal of emergency airway management is first pass success without adverse events (FPS-AE). Anatomically difficult airways are well appreciated to be an obstacle to this goal. However, little is known about the effect of the physiologically difficult airway with regard to FPS-AE. This study evaluates the effects of both anatomically and physiologically difficult airways on FPS-AE in patients undergoing rapid sequence intubation (RSI) in the emergency department (ED).
Our goal in this study was to determine female representation on editorial boards of high-ranking emergency medicine (EM) journals. In addition, we examined factors associated with gender disparity, including board members’ academic rank, departmental leadership position, h-index, total publications, total citations, and total publishing years.
The coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has created a mental health crisis among hospital staff who have been mentally and physically exhausted by uncertainty and unexpected stressors. However, the mental health challenges and complexities faced by hospital staff in the United States has not been fully elucidated. To address this gap, we conducted this study to examine the prevalence and correlates of depression and anxiety among hospital staff in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bystander naloxone distribution is an important component of public health initiatives to decrease opioid-related deaths. While there is evidence supporting naloxone distribution programs, the effects of increasing naloxone availability on the behavior of people who use drugs have not been adequately delineated. In this study we sought to 1) evaluate whether individuals’ drug use patterns have changed due to naloxone availability; and 2) explore individuals’ knowledge of, access to, experiences with, and perceptions of naloxone.
This study reviews malpractice, also called medical professional liability (MPL), claims involving adult patients cared for in emergency departments (ED) and urgent care settings.
Suicide claimed 47,173 lives in 2017 and is the second leading cause of death for individuals 15–34 years old. In 2017, rates of suicide in the United States (US) were double the rates of homicide. Despite significant research funding toward suicide prevention, rates of suicide have increased 38% from 2009 to 2017. Recent data suggests that emergency medical services (EMS) workers are at a higher risk of suicidal ideation and suicide attempts compared to the general public. The objective of this study was to determine the proportionate mortality ratio (PMR) of suicide among firefighters and emergency medical technicians (EMT) compared to the general US working population.
Despite large-scale quality improvement initiatives, substantial proportions of patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) transferred to percutaneous coronary intervention centers do not receive percutaneous coronary intervention within the recommended 120 minutes. We sought to examine the contributory role of emergency medical services (EMS) activation relative to percutaneous coronary intervention center activation in the timeliness of care for patients transferred with STEMI.
Symptoms concerning for acute coronary syndromes (ACS) such as chest pain and dyspnea are some of the most common reasons for presenting to an emergency department (ED). The HEART score (history, electrocardiogram, age, risk factors and troponin) was developed and has been externally validated in an emergency setting to determine which patients with chest pain are at increased risk for poor outcomes. Our hospital adopted a HEART score-based protocol in late 2015 to facilitate the management and disposition of these patients. In this study we aimed to analyze the effects of the adoption of this protocol. Prior studies have included only patients with chest pain. We included both patients with chest pain and patients with only atypical symptoms.
Academic emergency physicians must find ways to teach residents, medical students, and advanced practice providers amidst the myriad demands on their time during clinical shifts. In this study, we sought to characterize in detail what types of teaching occurred, how often they occurred, and how attending teaching styles differed at one academic emergency department (ED).
Opioid exposure has been identified as a contributing factor to the opioid epidemic. Reducing patient exposure, by altering heavy opioid prescribing patterns but appropriately addressing patient pain, may represent one approach to combat this public health issue. Our goal was to create and implement an opioid education program for emergency medicine (EM) interns as a means of establishing foundational best practices for safer and more thoughtful prescribing.
Sexual assault is a public health problem that affects many Americans and has multiple long-lasting effects on victims. Medical evaluation after sexual assault frequently occurs in the emergency department, and documentation of the visit plays a significant role in decisions regarding prosecution and outcomes of legal cases against perpetrators. The American College of Emergency Physicians recommends coding such visits as sexual assault rather than adding modifiers such as “alleged.”
As physician-performed point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) becomes more prevalent in the evaluation of patients presenting with various complaints in the emergency department (ED), one application that is significantly less used is breast ultrasound. This study evaluates the utility of POCUS for the assessment of patients with breast complaints who present to the ED and the impact of POCUS on medical decision-making and patient management in the ED.
Leadership, communication, and collaboration are important in well-managed trauma resuscitations. We surveyed resuscitation team members (attendings, fellows, residents, and nurses) in a large urban trauma center regarding their impressions of collaboration among team members and their satisfaction with patient care decisions.
