The American journal of emergency medicine
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Emergency Physicians are frequently called upon to treat family members, friends, colleagues, subordinates or others with whom they have a personal relationship; or they may elect to treat themselves. This may occur in the Emergency Department (ED), outside of the ED, as an informal, or "curbside" consultation, long distance by telecommunication or even at home at any hour. ⋯ Despite being common, this practice raises ethical concerns and concern for the welfare of both the patient and the physician. This article suggests ethical and practical guidance for the emergency physician as to how to approach these situations.
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It is critical to engage ED providers in antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASP). Emergency medicine pharmacists (EMPs) play an important role in ASP by working with providers to choose empiric antimicrobials. This study aimed to determine the impact of an EMP on appropriate empiric antibiotic prescribing for community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) and intra-abdominal infections (CA-IAI). ⋯ The presence of an EMP significantly improved guideline-concordant empiric antibiotic prescribing for CAP and CA-IAI in both an early and established ASP. Inpatient orders were more likely to be guideline-concordant if appropriate therapy was ordered in the ED.
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Utilization of chest CT for injured patients during visits to U.S. emergency departments: 2012-2015.
Increased use of computed tomography (CT) during injury-related Emergency Department (ED) visits has been reported, despite increased awareness of CT radiation exposure risks. We investigated national trends in the use of chest CT during injury-related ED visits between 2012 and 2015. ⋯ Overall chest CT utilization showed an increased trend from 2012 to 2015, but the results were not statistically significant.