Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
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To determine the safety and effectiveness of intravenous (IV) etomidate for the sedation of patients undergoing painful procedures in the emergency department (ED). ⋯ Intravenous etomidate can be administered safely and effectively to provide appropriate conscious sedation for short, painful ED procedures.
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As a method to control patient flow to overburdened hospitals, effective emergency medical services (EMS) systems provide policies for ambulance diversion. The Maryland state EMS system supports two types of alert for general hospital use: red alert, aimed at limiting the delivery of patients who may require intensive care unit (ICU) admission, and yellow alert, aimed at preventing further overload of already overtaxed emergency departments (EDs). ⋯ The ED diversion policy has some limited effect in preventing further patient volume in urban and suburban areas, but has virtually no impact in rural areas. However, an ICU diversion policy diverts patients of all acuities uniformly and inordinately diverts patients not likely to require ICU admissions while having only minimal impact on patients who do require ICU resources. The impact of red alert is uniform in all geographic areas. The impact and efficacy of ambulance diversion policies should be evaluated to ensure they are having the intended effect. While perhaps initially effective, the impact of alert policies may change over time.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Adrenocortical dysfunction following etomidate induction in emergency department patients.
To assess adrenocortical function following intravenous etomidate use in emergency department (ED) patients requiring intubation. ⋯ Use of etomidate in ED patients requiring RSI results in adrenocortical dysfunction. However, cortisol levels remain within normal laboratory levels during this period of dysfunction. Adrenocortical dysfunction appears to resolve within 12 hours of a single bolus dose of 0.3 mg/kg etomidate.
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To describe injury types, patterns, and health status in independently functioning elder patients presenting to the emergency department (ED) after a minor traumatic injury; and 2) to assess short-term functional decline in this population at three-month follow-up. ⋯ A significant proportion of functional elder patients with minor traumatic injury are at risk for short-term functional decline. Decline in ADL is related to injury type, while IADL decline is related to anatomic location of injury. Emergency physicians should consider initiating follow-up evaluation and possible intervention in highly functioning elders after minor traumatic injury.