The American journal of emergency medicine
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Despite advancements in antimicrobial therapies, bacteremia remains a life-threatening condition. Appropriate antimicrobials must be promptly administered to ensure patient survival. However, diagnosing bacteremia based on blood cultures is time-consuming and not something emergency department (ED) personnel are routinely trained to do. ⋯ The ML models developed effectively predicted bacteremia among febrile or hypothermic patients in the ED, with all models demonstrating high AUROC values and rapid processing times. The findings suggest that ED clinicians can effectively utilize ML techniques to develop predictive models for addressing clinical challenges.
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Limited data are available on locations of public access defibrillation programs across communities in the United States, despite their widespread presence. Our goal was to determine publicly available AED locations of large businesses in a mixed urban-rural county. We then compared our survey results to a NC state-mandated AED registry and the county's emergency medical dispatch center AED registry. ⋯ Our survey yielded a response rate of 79.1 % and identified 411 businesses with ≥ 1 AEDs. An additional 162 AED locations were contained in AED lists from multi-building organizations and registries. In total, our canvas identified 963 AEDs at 573 unique locations. The majority of AEDs (65.1 % [627/963]) were not previously registered in the NC OEMS AED registry. Few identified AEDs (11.8 % [114/963]) were listed in the county emergency medical dispatch center registry.
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The number of critically ill patients that present to emergency departments across the world continues to rise. In fact, the proportion of critically ill patients in emergency departments is now higher than pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels. [1] The emergency physician (EP) is typically the first physician to evaluate and resuscitate the critically ill patient. Given the continued shortage of intensive care unit (ICU) beds, persistent staff shortages, and overall inefficient hospital throughput, EPs are often tasked with providing intensive care to these patients long beyond the initial resuscitation phase. ⋯ As such, it is imperative for the EP to be knowledgeable about recent literature in resuscitation and critical care medicine, so that critically ill ED patients can continue to receive the best, most up-to-date evidence-based care. This review summarizes important articles published in 2023 that pertain to the resuscitation and management of select critically ill ED patients. Topics included in this article include cardiac arrest, post-cardiac arrest care, septic shock, rapid sequence intubation, severe pneumonia, transfusions, trauma, and critical procedures.
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Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming increasingly integral in clinical practice, such as during imaging tasks associated with the diagnosis and evaluation of blunt chest trauma (BCT). Due to significant advances in imaging-based deep learning, recent studies have demonstrated the efficacy of AI in the diagnosis of BCT, with a focus on rib fractures, pulmonary contusion, hemopneumothorax and others, demonstrating significant clinical progress. ⋯ Here, we provide a review of the available evidence surrounding the potential utility of AI in BCT, and additionally identify the challenges impeding its development. This review offers insights on how to optimize the role of AI in the diagnostic evaluation of BCT, which can ultimately enhance patient care and outcomes in this critical clinical domain.
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Airway management including endotracheal intubation (ETI) is a key skill for emergency clinicians. Therefore, it is important for emergency clinicians to be aware of the current evidence regarding the identification and management of patients requiring ETI. ⋯ An understanding of literature updates can improve the ED care of patients requiring emergent intubation.