The American journal of emergency medicine
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Performance of intubation with 4 different airway devices by unskilled rescuers: manikin study.
This study was designed to compare the performances of 4 airway devices in achieving successful ventilation. ⋯ With novice intubators who were unfamiliar with the airway devices, the LMA, iGEL, and AWS were superior to the MCL for establishing an airway without interruption of chest compressions in a manikin study. Intubation with the iGEL was faster and easier than with the other airway devices.
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Delirium tremens (DT) is the severest form of alcohol withdrawal syndrome, frequently after alcohol withdrawal seizures. Delirium tremens occurs in a small proportion of patients with alcohol withdrawal seizures; nevertheless, early identification of high-risk patients is important for intensive preventive management of unexpected episodes due to agitation and its associated increased mortality. However, there are limited studies on clinical predictors of the development of DT in patients with alcohol withdrawal seizures. ⋯ The study indicated that some easily determined parameters are potential clinical predictors for the development of DT in patients with alcohol withdrawal seizures. These findings would be helpful in clinical identification and management patients at high risk for DT.
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Comparative Study
Accuracy of lung ultrasound for the diagnosis of consolidations when compared to chest computed tomography.
Despite emerging evidences on the clinical usefulness of lung ultrasound (LUS), international guidelines still do not recommend the use of sonography for the diagnosis of pneumonia. Our study assesses the accuracy of LUS for the diagnosis of lung consolidations when compared to chest computed tomography (CT). ⋯ LUS represents a reliable diagnostic tool, alternative to CXR, for the bedside diagnosis of lung consolidations in patients with respiratory complains.
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Upper extremity fractures (UEFs) associated with road traffic accidents (RTAs) may result in long-term disability. Previous studies have examined UEF profiles with small patient populations. The objective of this study was to examine the injury profiles of UEFs in all mechanisms of injury related to RTAs in the pediatric population. ⋯ This study contributes the largest database on reported pediatric UEFs related to all mechanisms of injury in RTAs and finds the comparative epidemiology of associated injuries, multiple UEFs, and frequency of UEFs.
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Observational Study
Clinical profile of injection drug users presenting to the ED.
Injection drug users (IDUs) commonly use the emergency department (ED) as their primary health care access point. ⋯ When admitted from the ED for infectious disease-related diagnoses, IDUs had similar rates of fever, higher rates of hyponatremia and thrombocytopenia, and lower rates of leukocytosis than non-IDUs. Although they had similar rates of bacteremia, only IDUs were positive for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.