Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
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To determine whether there are patterns in the incidence of emergency department (ED) visits for congestive heart failure (CHF) by month of the year, day of the week, or hour of the day. ⋯ These data revealed a higher incidence of ED visits for CHF in the winter months, on Mondays, and during the hours of 8 AM to 3 PM. In comparison with previous studies, these data revealed a similar pattern by month of the year and a different pattern by hour of the day.
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To measure the ability of cardiac sonography and capnography to predict survival of cardiac arrest patients in the emergency department (ED). ⋯ Both the sonographic detection of cardiac activity and ETCO(2) levels higher than 16 torr were significantly associated with survival from ED resuscitation; however, logistic regression analysis demonstrated that prediction of survival using capnography was not enhanced by the addition of cardiac sonography.
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Patients with seizure disorders are common in the emergency department (ED), yet little is known regarding the management of these patients. This study was performed to define the frequency of patients with seizure disorders in the ED patient population and to determine possible seizure etiologies, characteristics of diagnostic activities, treatments, and dispositions. ⋯ Patients with presenting complaints related to seizures are frequent in the ED population and make considerable demands on EMS and ED resources. Six percent of patients with seizure-related presentations were in status epilepticus and more than a fourth of all patients required hospitalization.