Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
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The presence of squamous epithelial cells (SECs) has been advocated to identify urinary contamination despite a paucity of evidence supporting this practice. We sought to determine the value of using quantitative SECs as a predictor of urinalysis contamination. ⋯ Squamous epithelial cells are a poor predictor of urine culture contamination, but may predict poor predictive performance of traditional urinalysis measures.
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Emergency departments (EDs) are an increasingly important site of care for older adults, but little is known about the priorities of emergency care in this population. We sought to describe and rank priorities of care among older adults receiving care in the ED. ⋯ Among a sample of cognitively intact older ED patients, the most common priorities were related to the accuracy and efficiency of the medical evaluation. These priorities should be considered by those attempting to improve the emergency care of older adults.
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Arachnoid cysts are abnormal intracranial fluid collections, and there is concern that these cysts may bleed or rupture following blunt head trauma. Our objective was to determine the risk of cyst-related complications in a cohort of children with arachnoid cysts who were evaluated for head trauma. ⋯ In this cohort of 68 children with arachnoid cysts who sustained head trauma, none demonstrated cyst-related bleeding or complications. This suggests the risk of arachnoid cyst-related complications in children following blunt head trauma is low and evaluation should align with existing clinical decision rules.