Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
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The objective was to evaluate a training protocol for pediatric emergency physicians (EPs) learning emergency ultrasound (EUS) for the evaluation of skin and soft tissue infections (SSTIs) by assessing technical ability and interrater reliability. ⋯ After a brief training program, pediatric EPs can perform technically successful emergency EUS examination of SSTIs, with excellent agreement with an expert sonologist.
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The objective was to examine the effectiveness of triage liaison physicians (TLPs) on mitigating the effects of emergency department (ED) overcrowding. ⋯ While the evidence summarized here suggests that to have a TLP is an effective intervention to mitigate the effects of ED overcrowding, due to the weak research methods identified, more research is required before its widespread implementation.
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Waiting times to see a physician in emergency departments (EDs) are growing, and a greater number of patients are leaving the ED without being seen by a physician (LWBS). ⋯ This study shows that children who LWBS have a lower triage acuity, are less often referred by a physician, and are largely in the 3-month to 11-year-old age range. Environmental factors, such as the timing of the consultation and the proximity of patients' homes, are also associated with LWBS.
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Hypoxia has been observed when infants undergo lumbar puncture in a tight flexed lateral recumbent position. This study used sonographic measurements of lumbar interspinous spaces to investigate the anatomic necessity and advantage derived from this tight flexed positioning in infants. ⋯ This study verified that tight, lateral flexed positioning substantially enhances the space between the lumbar spinous processes and that a spine-neutral position also allows for a large enough anatomic interspinous space to perform lumbar puncture. However, further clinical research is required to establish the feasibility of lumbar puncture in a spine-neutral position.