Can J Emerg Med
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Review Case Reports
Just the Facts: What are the roles of oxygen escalation and non-invasive ventilation in COVID-19?
A 37-year-old female presents with cough, fever, dyspnea, and myalgias for five days after recent contact with a family member with confirmed 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Her vital signs include T 38.3° C, HR 108, BP 118/70 mm Hg, RR 26 breaths per minute, and oxygen saturation 67% on room air. ⋯ Her chest X-ray reveals bilateral airspace opacities. You plan to immediately intervene and address her hypoxia.
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Emergency department (ED) throughput efficiency is largely dependent on staffing and process, and many operational interventions to increase throughput have been described. ⋯ Introducing a fast track and optimizing processes for important case-mix groups will likely enhance throughput efficiency. Expediting diagnostic and treatment decisions by shifting physician-patient contact to the earliest possible process point (e.g., triage) is an effective cost-neutral strategy to increase flow. Focusing ED staff on operational improvement is likely to improve performance, regardless of the intervention type.
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Non-medical cannabis recently became legal for adults in Canada. Legalization provides opportunity to investigate the public health effects of national cannabis legalization on presentations to emergency departments (EDs). Our study aimed to explore association between cannabis-related ED presentations, poison control and telemedicine calls, and cannabis legalization. ⋯ Overall, Canadian cannabis legalization was associated with small increases in urban Alberta cannabis-related ED visits and calls to a poison control centre.
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Multicenter Study Observational Study
Frailty and associated prognosis among older emergency department patients with suspected infection: A prospective, observational cohort study.
Prognosis and disposition among older emergency department (ED) patients with suspected infection remains challenging. Frailty is increasingly recognized as a predictor of poor prognosis among critically ill patients; however, its association with clinical outcomes among older ED patients with suspected infection is unknown. ⋯ Frailty is a highly prevalent prognostic factor that can be used to risk-stratify older ED patients with suspected infection. ED clinicians should consider screening for frailty to optimize disposition in this population.
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A 32-year-old male presents with diffuse myalgias, weakness, and dark urine for 1 day. The patient states he recently started a new exercise program. He is hemodynamically stable, and his physical examination reveals diffuse muscle tenderness. His creatine kinase (CK) returns at 8,000 international units per liter (IU/L), and his urinalysis reveals blood but only three red blood cells (RBCs) on microscopy.