Annals of emergency medicine
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Although diagnosis is a valuable tool for health care providers, and often the reason patients say they are seeking care, it may not serve the same needs for patients as for providers. The objective of this study is to explore what patients specifically want addressed when seeking a diagnosis at their emergency department (ED) visit. We propose that understanding these needs will facilitate a more patient-centered approach to acute care delivery. ⋯ Although diagnosis may not be a feasible outcome of every acute care visit, addressing the needs associated with seeking a diagnosis may be achievable. Reframing acute care encounters to focus on addressing specific patient needs, and not just identifying a diagnosis, may lead to more effective transitions home and improved patient outcomes.
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Multicenter Study
A Two-Center Validation of "Patient Does Not Follow Commands" and Three Other Simplified Measures to Replace the Glasgow Coma Scale for Field Trauma Triage.
Out-of-hospital personnel worldwide calculate the 13-point Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score as a routine part of field trauma triage. We wish to independently validate a simpler binary assessment to replace the GCS for this task. ⋯ In this 2-center external validation, we confirmed that a simple binary assessment-"patient does not follow commands"-could effectively replace the more complicated GCS for field trauma triage.
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We describe the current US emergency medicine workforce in terms of clinician type and examine rural and urban emergency medicine workforce differences. ⋯ This work establishes a new baseline estimate of the emergency care workforce, encompassing nearly 60,000 emergency medicine clinicians, of whom fewer than 2 in 3 were emergency physicians. Notable differences exist in the type of clinician staffing of emergency care between urban and rural communities.