The American journal of emergency medicine
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Comparative Study
Intravenous fluid temperature management by infrared thermometer.
The management of intravenous (IV) fluid temperature is a daily challenge in critical care, anesthesiology, and emergency medicine. Infusion of IV fluids at the right temperature partly influences clinical outcomes of critically ill patients. Nowadays, intravenous fluid temperature is poorly managed, as no suitable device is routinely available. Infrared (IR) thermometers have been recently developed for industrial, personal, or medical purposes. The aim of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of an IR thermometer in measuring temperature of warmed and cooled infusion fluids in fluid bags. ⋯ Infrared thermometers are efficient to measure IV fluid bag temperature in the range of temperatures used in clinical practice. As these devices are easy to use and inexpensive, they could be largely used in critical care, anesthesiology, or emergency medicine.
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Tracheal necrosis, stenosis, and rupture may result from overinflated endotracheal tube cuffs (ETTcs). We sought to determine the ability of faculty emergency medicine (EM) physicians to safely inflate ETTc as well as to estimate pressure of previously inflated ETTc. ⋯ Participants were unable to inflate ETTc to safe pressures or estimate pressure of ETTc by palpation. Clinicians should consider using devices to facilitate safe inflation and accurate measurement of ETTc pressure.
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To determine to what extent cases sanctioned under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) reflect willful refusal of screening or stabilization. ⋯ Emergency department willful refusal of screening and stabilization still occurs despite enforcement of EMTALA.
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To measure the ventilation efficacy with three single-sized mask types on infant and child manikin models. ⋯ Both the standard and blob masks are more effective than the pocket mask at achieving adequate ventilation on infant and child manikins in this group of inexperienced medical student resuscitators, who most often preferred the blob mask.
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To determine if body mass index (BMI) is associated with interpretation agreement between matched abdominal pelvic computed tomographic (CT) scan performed with and without oral contrast in emergency department (ED) patients. ⋯ This study did not find an association between BMI, sex, or waist circumference and concordance of radiologists' interpretation of noncontrast and oral contrast abdominal pelvic CT scans in ED patients.