The American journal of emergency medicine
-
Letter Case Reports
"Flaming Dr. Pepper"--another cause of recreational burn injury.
-
Clinical Trial Controlled Clinical Trial
Does a physician visual assessment change triage?
A prospective comparative trial was conducted to determine the effect of a physician's visual assessment of emergency patients on triage categorization and ability at triage to predict admission. The setting was a university, county, referral center and residency training site. Participants were a consecutive sample of emergency department patients presenting between the times of 0700 and 2300 hours for 5 weeks. ⋯ When physician visual assessment was done, agreement between physicians and nurses decreased by more than half. Physicians who included visual assessment in patient triage were less likely to agree with RN categorization. A visual assessment by the physician improved the sensitivity for predicting admission with an only small cost in specificity.
-
Letter Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
A prospective comparison of transnasal butorphanol and acetaminophen with codeine for the relief of acute musculoskeletal pain.
-
Transnasal butorphanol (TNB) is a mixed agonist-antagonist opioid that has recently been released for the treatment of painful conditions. Patients with a history of migraine diagnosed in either of two emergency departments (EDs) with a moderate or severe migraine were eligible for this prospective study. Patients received 1 mg of TNB at time zero and again in 45 minutes if needed. ⋯ Thirty-six percent experienced side effects, with all but 1 being mild or moderate. Seventy-five percent rated the treatment as good, very good, or excellent, and 71% would prefer to receive TNB for future migraines over other treatment options. TNB offers rapid, effective pain relief to the majority of ED migraine patients.
-
Case Reports
Obstructive ileus caused by a swallowed foreign body (a "press-through" package) and preexisting adhesions.
A "press-through" package (PTP), because it is large and square-shaped, tends to be caught in the esophagus when swallowed. A rare case of obstructive ileus induced by a PTP that was swallowed by 54-year-old man with a history of diabetes mellitus and acute appendectomy is reported. The PTP was 19 mm x 18 mm and was lodged in the cecum, which was stenosed because of preexisting intestinal adhesions; consequently, the PTP obstructed the ileus. The PTP was surgically removed.