The American journal of emergency medicine
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Rhabdomyolysis (RM) is a complex set of clinical syndromes involving the rapid dissolution of skeletal muscles. The early detection of patients who need renal replacement therapy (RRT) is very important and may aid in delivering proper care and optimizing the use of limited resources. ⋯ We developed and validated a model for the early prediction of the RRT requirement among patients with RM based on 8 variables commonly measured during the first 24 h after admission. Predicting the need for RRT could help ensure appropriate treatment and facilitate the optimization of the use of medical resources.
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Unenhanced chest computed tomography (CT) can assist in the diagnosis and classification of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), complementing to the reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests; the performance of which has yet to be validated in emergency department (ED) setting. The study sought to evaluate the diagnostic performance of chest CT in the diagnosis and management of COVID-19 in ED. ⋯ Chest CT showed promising sensitivity for diagnosing COVID-19 across all patients' subgroups. However, CT did not modify the estimated probability of COVID-19 infection in a substantial proportion of patients and its utility as an emergency department triage tool warrants further analyses.
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Observational Study
Should age be incorporated into the adult triage algorithm in the emergency department?
To compare resource utilization and mortality between older and younger adult patients with similar ED chief complaints and ESI triage levels. ⋯ Older adults with similar chief complaints and ESI levels than younger adults, have significantly higher ED resource use, hospitalization rates, and mortality.
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Evaluation of suspected septic arthritis of the native adult knee is a common diagnostic dilemma. Pre-aspirate criteria predictive of septic arthritis do not exist for the adult knee and investigations of aspiration results (cell count, differential, gram stain and crystal analysis) have been limited to univariate analyses. Given numerous clinical variables inform the risk of septic arthritis, multivariable analysis that incorporates all clinically available information is critical to allowing accurate decision-making. ⋯ When evaluating for septic arthritis of a native adult knee, several independent associations were identified for variables related and unrelated to joint aspiration. The associated multivariable model discriminated very well between patients with and without septic arthritis, outperforming previous univariate assessments. A web-based tool was created that estimates the probability of septic arthritis based on this model. This may aid decision-making in complex clinical scenarios.
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No set guidelines to guide disposition decisions from the emergency department (ED) in patients with COVID-19 exist. Our goal was to determine characteristics that identify patients at high risk for adverse outcomes who may need admission to the hospital instead of an observation unit. ⋯ Over 1/4 of suspected COVID-19 patients admitted to an ED observation unit ultimately required admission to the hospital. Risk factors associated with admission include hypoxia, bilateral infiltrates on chest radiography, or the combination of these two factors plus either age > 48 years or Hispanic race.