The American journal of emergency medicine
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We sought to evaluate the effectiveness of the "Timed Up and Go" (TUG) and the Chair test as screening tools in the Emergency Department (ED), stratified by sex. ⋯ There were no sex specific significant differences in TUG or Chair test screening performance. Neither test performed well as a screening tool for future falls in the elderly in the ED setting.
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Penetrating brain injury (PBI) is the most lethal form of traumatic brain injury, which is a leading cause of mortality. PBI has a mortality rate of 23%-93% and 87%-100% with poor neurological status. Despite the use of various prognostic factors there is still a need for a specific prognostic factor for early prediction of mortality in PBI to reduce mortality and provide good outcomes with cost-effective surgical treatments. The aim of this study was to investigate the predictive value of the number of intracranial foreign bodies (FBs) on mortality in PBI in the Emergency Department. ⋯ When the intracranial number of FB was >2, mortality significantly increased in patients with PBI. The intracranial number of FBs may be considered as a novel prognostic factor for the prediction of mortality in PBI.
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A 52-year-old lady presented to the emergency department with recurrent episodes of dizziness and near-syncope on awakening up or swinging her left arm. Initial rhythm strips demonstrated intermittently non-conducted p waves corresponding to inappropriate pacemaker inhibition and oversensing malfunction. ⋯ The patient was diagnosed with pacemaker lead failure supported by correlating pacemaker lead variation with homolateral arm movement. The patient was referred to an electrophysiologist and underwent new right ventricular lead placement with the resolution of symptoms.
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Homelessness is a critical public health issue and socioeconomic epidemic associated with a disproportionate burden of disease and significant decrease in life expectancy. We compared emergency care utilization between individuals with documented homelessness to those enrolled in Medicaid without documented homelessness. ⋯ Compared to non-homeless Medicaid patients, patients with documented homelessness were over seven times more likely to return to the ED within 30 days and over eleven times more likely to return to the ED in two years.
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Comparative Study
Injuries associated with hoverboard use: A review of the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System.
Hoverboards have become popular since they became available in 2015. We seek to provide an estimate of the number of injuries in the United States for 2015 and 2016, and to evaluate differences between adult and pediatric injury complexes. ⋯ Emergency department (ED) visits for hoverboard related injuries appear to be increasing. Pediatric patients are more at risk for hoverboard related injuries than adults and almost 6% of ED visits involved critical injuries, highlighting that hoverboards may be more dangerous than previously recognized.