The American journal of emergency medicine
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Finger injuries are commonly attended to in the emergency department, and digital nerve block is a frequently performed procedure for such injuries. This study compared the efficacy levels of the subcutaneous method according to the different injection sites. ⋯ Injection into the PIP joint showed the same anesthetic effect as injection into the MCP joint, but this effect occurred faster in the former.
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Emergency department (ED) providers and clinicians find that feedback on acute stroke patients is rewarding, valuable to professional development, and helpful for practice improvement. However, feedback is rarely provided, particularly for patients with stroke. Here we describe the implementation of an electronic stroke outcome reporting tool for providing feedback to ED providers. ⋯ An electronic stroke outcome reporting tool was used and liked by ED staff and providers but the time to compile the reports is the major challenge to scalability. Future research should address the effectiveness of this reporting tool as a source of provider education and its impact on clinical and operational outcomes.
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The aim of the study was to assess whether spinal immobilization with long back board (LBB) and semi-rigid cervical collar (CC) at 20° instead of 0° conserves pulmonary functions in obese volunteers, including forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1), forced vital capacity (FVC), and FEV1/FVC ratio. ⋯ The present findings confirm that spinal immobilization reduces pulmonary functions in obese volunteers, and that 20-degree immobilization has no conservative effect on these values when compared to the traditional 0-degree immobilization. It may be that 20° is insufficient to decrease the negative effect of abdominal obesity on pulmonary functions.
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Impacted esophageal foreign bodies typically first present to the emergency department, with coins being most common in children and food boluses most common in adults. Controversy exists regarding the best treatment options in these cases. We report two cases, one pediatric and one adult, where the use of a novel substitute Hurst dilator constructed of materials regularly found in all EDs was successfully used to treat impacted esophageal foreign bodies.
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Tools to measure physical activity, such as pedometers, have become more prevalent and attracted popular interest in recent years. Despite this trend, research has not yet quantified pedometer-measured physical activity among Emergency Physicians. This study aims to provide the first characterization of physical activity among on-duty Emergency Physicians in terms of step count. ⋯ The average emergency physician in this cohort walked roughly half the daily recommended number of steps during their recorded shift. Residents walk significantly more than attending physicians.