Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
-
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Low-dose Magnesium Sulfate Versus High Dose in the Early Management of Rapid Atrial Fibrillation: Randomized Controlled Double-blind Study (LOMAGHI Study).
We aim to determine the benefit of two different doses magnesium sulfate (MgSO4 ) compared to placebo in rate control of rapid atrial fibrillation (AF) managed in the emergency department (ED). ⋯ Intravenous MgSO4 appears to have a synergistic effect when combined with other AV nodal blockers resulting in improved rate control. Similar efficacy was observed with 4.5 and 9 g of MgSO4 but a dose of 9 g was associated with more side effects.
-
Previous studies examining access to trauma care use patient residence as a proxy for location and need for services, which could result in a flawed understanding of access to trauma centers. The objective of this study was to examine the geographic access of the U.S. population to trauma centers based on trauma incident locations. ⋯ These findings suggest that greater access to trauma care and significant variations can be observed throughout the 32 study states when using trauma incident location rather than patient residence to calculate access to trauma care. The proposed capacity-to-demand ratio and accessibility ratio can be applied to many other needs assessments in health care.
-
Many emergency department (ED) transfers of children may be avoidable. Identifying hospital-level variables associated with avoidable transfers may guide system-level interventions to improve pediatric emergency care. We sought to examine hospital characteristics associated with ED transfers deemed "probably avoidable" in a large state Medicaid program. ⋯ Among pediatric emergency transfers in a large state Medicaid program with a nearly 20% probably avoidable transfer rate, there was significant hospital-level variation in the proportion of probably avoidable transfers. Transfers from hospitals in large metropolitan areas and transfers from hospitals without pediatric-specific capabilities had increased odds of being probably avoidable transfers, such that these hospitals may represent targets for interventions to reduce these transfers.