Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
-
The objective was to identify predictive factors and outcomes associated with patients who leave emergency departments (EDs) without being seen in Victoria, Australia. ⋯ Patients who leave EDs in Victoria, Australia, without being seen are at lower risk of hospital admission and at no greater risk of mortality, but are at higher risk of re-presenting to an ED compared to patients who complete treatment and are discharged home.
-
While knee injuries are treated by a wide range of clinicians, patients with knee injuries frequently present to emergency departments (EDs). The knee is the most commonly injured joint by adolescent athletes with an estimated 2.5 million sports-related injuries presenting to EDs annually. ⋯ Rates and patterns of knee injuries vary by sex and age. Although knee injuries will likely continue to occur most frequently among youth and young adult athletes, anticipating and responding to trends such as an increase in the incidence of knee injuries among adult and senior patients will enable clinicians to better anticipate caseloads, allocate resources, and determine best practices for diagnosis and treatment of knee injuries in different age groups.
-
There are unique challenges to enrolling patients in emergency department (ED) clinical research studies, including the time-sensitive nature of emergency conditions, the acute care environment, and the lack of an established relationship with patients. Prolonged ED wait times have been associated with a variety of adverse effects on patient care. The objective of this study was to assess the effect of ED wait times on patient participation in ED clinical research. The hypothesis was that increased ED wait times would be associated with reduced ED clinical research consent rates. ⋯ Regardless of wait times, nearly two-thirds of eligible patients were willing to consent to diagnostic research studies in the ED. These findings suggest that effective enrollment in clinical research is possible in the ED, despite challenges with prolonged wait times.
-
Physical and molecular mechanisms for the neuroprotective effect of therapeutic hypothermia are not completely understood, and new therapeutic applications incorporating hypothermia remain to be developed and tested. Clinically relevant animal models of therapeutic hypothermia are not well established or consistent. ⋯ Like human protocols, this model incorporates sedation and analgesia, results in robust neuroprotection, is well tolerated, and offers exquisite temperature control. The system is noninvasive and inexpensive and offers a model that is similar to methods used in clinical practice. This system will be of interest to investigators using small animal models to examine neuroprotective mechanisms of hypothermia and translational strategies that combine hypothermia with targeted pharmacotherapy.