The American journal of emergency medicine
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Observational Study
Effects of an emergency transfer coordination center on secondary overtriage in an emergency department.
Patients who cannot be stabilized at a lower-level emergency department (ED) should be transferred to an upper-level ED by emergency medical services. However, some patients are subsequently discharged after transfer without any intervention or admission, and this secondary overtriage (SO) wastes the limited resources of upper-level EDs. This study aimed to investigate whether an emergency transfer coordination center (ETCC) could reduce the risk of SO among patients who were transferred to a tertiary ED by emergency medical services. ⋯ Transfers that were evaluated by an ETCC had a lower risk of SO, which may improve the appropriateness of transfer. Thus, tertiary EDs that have high proportions of transferred patients should have a transfer coordination system that is similar to an ETCC.
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Case Reports
An unexpected cause of chronic cough in a young woman: Tachycardia-induced cardiomyopathy.
Heart failure typically manifests with exertional dyspnea or limb edema. Old age, underlying heart disease, and coronary risk factors are known risk factors for heart failure. Thus, congestive heart failure is rarely considered as a differential diagnosis of chronic cough in a previously healthy young person. ⋯ TIC can develop irrespective of age and underlying heart disease. The long-term outcome may be good, and LV systolic function recovers in most patients following resolution of arrhythmia. Physicians need to consider TIC as a differential diagnosis in patients of any age who present with heart failure, because prompt treatment generally leads to resolution of symptoms and ventricular function.
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Dysnatremia is one of the most commonly encountered electrolyte disorders in the emergency department (ED). Few studies have reported the prevalence of dysnatremia in elderly patients without chronic kidney disease (CKD). We investigated the prevalence of dysnatremia in elderly patients without CKD in an emergency department in Japan. ⋯ In elderly patients, the prevalence of hyponatremia was higher in patients without CKD than in patients with CKD. Special attention should be paid to elderly patients without CKD in order to prevent severe hyponatremia.
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While generally reducing morbidity and mortality, TASER® electrical weapons have risks associated with their usage, including burn injuries and head and cervical trauma associated with uncontrolled falls. The primary non-fatal complications appear to be significant eye injury but no analysis of the mechanisms or suggested treatments has been published. ⋯ Significant eye injury is expected from a penetration by an electrical weapon probe at close range. The risk decreases rapidly at extended distances from the muzzle. Not all penetrating globe injuries from electrical weapon probes will result in blindness.