The American journal of emergency medicine
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We are submitting a case-based presentation illustrating medical errors in the use of epinephrine for the treatment of anaphylaxis. Readers will learn from mistakes made by other emergency caregivers in treating anaphylaxis. The article will specifically review the recommended use of epinephrine in the management of anaphylaxis. ⋯ In the remaining 2 cases, epinephrine use was either omitted or significantly delayed in its administration. Our presentation includes a review of consensus statements regarding the treatment of anaphylaxis with particular regard to the use of epinephrine. We hope that this information will help prevent similar errors from harming other patients.
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Comparative Study
Use of a radial artery compression device for noninvasive, near-continuous blood pressure monitoring in the ED.
This study's goal was to test a novel device using continuous partial radial artery compression for mean arterial pressure (MAP) measurement. A prospective, nonblind, convenience-sample trial at a level I center (annual ED census 70,000) enrolled 15 adults with indwelling radial arterial catheters and accessible contralateral radial pulse. Subjects had MAPs measured simultaneously by test device (TEST assessments), oscillometric brachial artery cuff (OSC), and arterial line (ART). ⋯ R(2) values for ART/OSC and ART/TEST were 0.96 and 0.95, respectively (P <.001). TEST and OSC MAP readings were equally likely (P = 0.66) to be within 5 mm Hg of ART in both the overall set of 307 MAPs and in the subset of 120 cases in which ART MAPs were below 80 (P = .47). The TEST device performed at least as well as oscillometric assessment, offering advantages of noninvasive, near-continuous data.