The American journal of emergency medicine
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Drug shortages contribute to avoidable medication error and patient harm; these shortages are exacerbated in the Emergency Department due to the time-sensitive nature of acute care. ⋯ Drug shortages were more frequent and persistent from 2006 through 2019. Further studies on the clinical impact of these shortages are needed, in addition to policy interventions to mitigate shortages.
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An estimated 56% of emergency department (ED) visits are avoidable. One motivation for return visits is patients' perception of poor access to timely outpatient care. Efforts to facilitate access may help reduce preventable ED visits. We aimed to analyze whether an ED patient navigator (PN) program improved adherence with outpatient appointments and reduced ED return visits. ⋯ By facilitating access to post-ED care, PNs may reduce avoidable ED utilization and improve outpatient follow-up adherence. While overall ED utilization did not change, this may be due to the overall vulnerability of the navigated group which is the goal PN intervention group.
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Space travel is expected to grow in the near future, which could lead to a higher burden of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) in astronauts. Current methods to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation in microgravity perform below earth-based standards in terms of depth achieved and the ability to sustain chest compressions (CC). We hypothesised that an automated chest compression device (ACCD) delivers high-quality CC during simulated micro- and hypergravity conditions. ⋯ The use of an ACCD allows continuous delivery of high-quality CC in micro- and hypergravity as experienced in parabolic flight. The decision to bring extra load for a high impact and low likelihood event should be based on specifics of its crew's mission and health status, and the establishment of standard operating procedures.
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Unnecessary dermatology consultation requests from emergency departments (EDs) are a common occurrence worldwide. ⋯ As patients commonly present to EDs with non-urgent dermatological diseases, ED physicians should receive training on common dermatological diseases so as to decrease the number of unnecessary dermatology consultation requests.
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Case Reports
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on workplace violence at an academic emergency department.
COVID-19 brought unique challenges; however, it remains unclear what effect the pandemic had on violence in healthcare. The objective of this study was to identify the impact of the pandemic on workplace violence at an academic emergency department (ED). ⋯ Incidents of workplace violence at our ED increased during the pandemic and there was a positive association of these incidents with the COVID-19 case rate. Our findings indicate health systems should prioritize employee safety during future pandemics.