Annals of internal medicine
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Multicenter Study Clinical Trial Controlled Clinical Trial
Use of the acute cardiac ischemia time-insensitive predictive instrument (ACI-TIPI) to assist with triage of patients with chest pain or other symptoms suggestive of acute cardiac ischemia. A multicenter, controlled clinical trial.
Approximately 6 million U.S. patients present to emergency departments annually with symptoms suggesting acute cardiac ischemia. Triage decisions for these patients are important but remain difficult. ⋯ Use of ACI-TIPI was associated with reduced hospitalization among emergency department patients without acute cardiac ischemia. This result varied as expected according to the CCU and cardiac telemetry unit capacities and physician supervision at individual hospitals. Appropriate admission for unstable angina or acute infarction was not affected. If ACI-TIPI is used widely in the United States, its potential incremental impact may be more than 200000 fewer unnecessary hospitalizations and more than 100000 fewer unnecessary CCU admissions.
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Community-acquired bacterial meningitis causes substantial morbidity and mortality in adults. ⋯ In persons with community-acquired bacterial meningitis, three baseline clinical features of disease severity predicted adverse clinical outcome and stratified patients into three stages of prognostic severity. Delay in therapy after arrival in the emergency department was associated with adverse clinical outcome when the patient's condition advanced to the highest stage of prognostic severity before the initial antibiotic dose was given.