The American journal of emergency medicine
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The COVID-19 pandemic can exacerbate underlying substance use disorder and has impacted this vulnerable population in a variety of ways. There are limited data regarding how this pandemic has impacted emergency department (ED) patient presentations. ⋯ There was an increase in the proportion of positive SBIRT screens and visits for acute overdoses and intoxication during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Additional research should focus on mitigation strategies to address substance use during this vulnerable time.
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To evaluate the prognostic accuracy of qSOFA for predicting in-hospital mortality among patients with suspected infection presenting to the ED of a public tertiary hospital in Brazil. ⋯ The qSOFA score yielded very low sensitivity in predicting in-hospital mortality. Emergency physicians or ED triage nurses in low-to-middle income countries should not be using qSOFA or qSOFA65 as "rule-out" screening tools in the initial evaluation of patients with suspected infection.
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COVID-19; It spread rapidly around the world and led to a global pandemic. Indicators of poor prognosis are important in the treatment and follow-up of COVID-19 patients and have always been a matter of interest to researchers. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between frontal QRS-T angle values and clinical severity and prognosis in COVID-19 patients. ⋯ Frontal QRS-T angle can be used as a reproducible, convenient, inexpensive, new and powerful predictor in determining the clinical severity and prognosis of COVID-19 patients.