Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
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To examine the impact of reducing ED "boarders" (through the use of a short-stay inpatient medicine unit) on the amount of time that treat-and-release patients spend in the ED. ⋯ Reducing the number of admitted patients waiting in the ED for inpatients beds, in this case by establishment of a short-stay medicine unit, is associated with a decrease in the interval that treat-and-release patients spend in the ED.
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To test the overall reliability of a performance-based clinical skill assessment for entering emergency medicine (EM) residents. Also, to investigate the reliability of separate reporting of diagnostic and management scores for a standardized patient case, subjective scoring of patient notes, and interstation exercise scores. ⋯ SPs can be used to reliably assess bedside clinical skills of EM residents. While component reliability levels are slightly lower than the global clinical skill reliability coefficient, they are still high enough to use for identification of individual strengths and weaknesses.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Topical tetracaine attenuates the pain of infiltration of buffered lidocaine.
To determine whether topical tetracaine attenuates the pain of buffered lidocaine infiltration. ⋯ Topical tetracaine attenuates the pain of infiltration of buffered lidocaine.
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Multicenter Study
A multisite survey of factors contributing to medically unnecessary ambulance transports.
To determine the social and demographic factors associated with medically unnecessary ambulance utilization, and to determine the willingness of patients to use alternate modes of transportation to the ED. ⋯ Patient age < 40 years and Medicaid coverage were associated with medically unnecessary ambulance use. Those patients for whom ambulance use was considered medically unnecessary commonly had no alternate means of transportation. Providing alternate means of unscheduled transportation may reduce the incidence of unnecessary ambulance use.