Can J Emerg Med
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Emergency department (ED) patients with atrial fibrillation or flutter (AFF) with underlying occult condition such as sepsis or heart failure, and who are managed with rate or rhythm control, have poor prognoses. Such conditions may not be easy to identify early in the ED evaluation when critical treatment decisions are made. We sought to develop a simple decision aid to quickly identify undifferentiated ED AFF patients who are at high risk of acute underlying illness. ⋯ In ED patients with undifferentiated AFF, this simple predictive model rapidly differentiates patients at risk of acute underlying illness, who will likely merit investigations before AFF-specific therapy.
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Acute heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are sometimes difficult to differentiate in the emergency department (ED). We sought to determine the clinical impact of point-of-care ultrasonography (POCUS) in ED patients with suspected acute heart failure or COPD. ⋯ In this study, use of lung POCUS resulted in no difference in ED length of stay and time to disposition decision, but was associated with faster administration of disease-specific treatments for elderly patients with suspected acute heart failure or COPD.