Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Emergency Department-triggered Palliative Care in Advanced Cancer: Proof of Concept.
The American College of Emergency Physicians and the American Society of Clinical Oncology recommend early palliative care consultation for patients with advanced, life-limiting illnesses, such as metastatic cancer. ⋯ This study documented a low baseline rate of palliative care involvement as part of usual care in patients with advanced cancer being admitted from the ED. Early referral to palliative care in the context of a research study significantly increased the likelihood that patients received a consult, thus meriting further investigation of how to generalize this approach.
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In this study, the objective was to characterize emergency department (ED) transfer relationships and study the factors that predict the stability of those relationships. A metric is derived for ED transfer relationships that may be useful in assessing emergency care regionalization and as a resource for future emergency medicine research. ⋯ United States EDs that transfer patients to other hospitals often have multiple transfer partners. The stability of the transfer relationship, assessed by the transfer instability index, differs by condition. Less stable transfer relationships (i.e., hospitals with greater numbers of transfer partners) were more common in EDs with higher proportions of publicly insured patients.
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There is increasing importance placed on quality of health care for musculoskeletal injuries in emergency departments (EDs). This systematic review aimed to identify existing musculoskeletal quality indicators (QIs) developed for ED use and to critically evaluate their methodological quality. ⋯ Methodological quality of the development of most QIs is poor. Recommendations for a core set of QIs that address the complete spectrum of musculoskeletal injury management in emergency medicine is not possible, and more work is needed. Currently, QIs with highest methodological quality are in the areas of pain management and medical imaging.