Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
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The authors assessed the association between measures of emergency department (ED) crowding and treatment with analgesia and delays to analgesia in ED patients with back pain. ⋯ As ED crowding increases, there is a higher likelihood of delays in administration of pain medication in patients with back pain. Analgesia administration was not related to three measures of ED crowding; however, patients were actually more likely to receive analgesics when the waiting room was at peak levels in the academic ED.
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The emergency department (ED) visit rate for older patients exceeds that of all age groups other than infants. The aging population will increase elder ED patient utilization to 35% to 60% of all visits. Older patients can have complex clinical presentations and be resource-intensive. Evidence indicates that emergency physicians fail to provide consistent high-quality care for elder ED patients, resulting in poor clinical outcomes. ⋯ The Geriatric Competencies for EM Residents is a consensus document that can form the basis for EM residency curricula and assessment to meet the demands of our aging population.
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Diagnosing acute appendicitis is a daunting clinical challenge, as there is no single test that reliably distinguishes acute appendicitis from other etiologies of acute abdominal pain. In this study, the authors examined whether circulating levels of S100A8/A9 could be useful as a marker to aid in the diagnosis of acute appendicitis. ⋯ This is the first report exploring the relationship between circulating S100A8/A9 and acute appendicitis and establishes proof of concept for this biomarker as a diagnostic test for acute appendicitis. Further studies are indicated to optimize the use of this biomarker, in conjunction with other established approaches.
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The objective was to compare outcomes in emergency department (ED) patients with preinjury warfarin use and traumatic intracranial hemorrhage (tICH) who did and did not receive recombinant activated factor VIIa (rFVIIa) for international normalized ratio (INR) reversal. ⋯ In patients with preinjury warfarin and tICH, use of rFVIIa was associated with a decreased time to normal INR. However, no difference in mortality was identified. Use of rFVIIa in patients on warfarin and tICH requires further study to demonstrate important patient-oriented outcomes.
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Comment Letter
Regarding "can unannounced standardized patients assess...".