The American journal of emergency medicine
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Droperidol is a dopamine-2 receptor antagonist in the class of butyrophenone antipsychotics with antiemetic, sedative, analgesic, and anxiolytic properties. In the postoperative setting, droperidol provides an opioid sparing effect and decreases nausea/vomiting. Another butyrophenone antipsychotic, haloperidol, has been shown to reduce morphine milliequivalents (MME) administered when used for abdominal pain in the emergency department (ED). The purpose of this study is to evaluate if the use of droperidol for undifferentiated abdominal pain reduces the amount of MME administered in the ED. ⋯ Among patients presenting to the ED for abdominal pain, droperidol administration resulted in a significant reduction in MME administration. Future research should include prospective studies, comparison of droperidol to haloperidol, and investigate droperidol use beyond the ED for these encounters.
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This study aimed to examine how physician performance metrics are affected by the speed of other attendings (co-attendings) concurrently staffing the ED. ⋯ This study examines the association between attending and co-attending speed on physician performance and finds that physicians become faster when a slow co-attending is present and slow down when a fast co-attending is present. How this study might affect research, practice or policy: Physician behavior does not exist in isolation and how an entire ED is staffed may have implications for throughput.
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To describe changes in patient and encounter characteristics among Emergency Medical Services (EMS) responses for patients ages 0-19 with firearm-related injuries. ⋯ We observed a continued upward trend in EMS encounters for firearm injuries among children and adolescents between 2018 and 2022. Injury burden disproportionately impacted minorities and socioeconomically vulnerable communities.