J Emerg Med
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Boarding of inpatients in the Emergency Department (ED) has been widely recognized as a major contributor to ED crowding and a cause of adverse outcomes. We hypothesize that these deleterious effects extend to those patients who are discharged from the ED by increasing their length of stay (LOS). ⋯ In this retrospective study, increasing boarder burden was associated with increasing LOS of patients discharged from the ED, with the greatest effect between 11:00 a.m. and 11:00 p.m. on medium-acuity patients. This relationship between LOS and ED capacity limitation by inpatient boarders has important implications, as ED and hospital leadership increasingly focus on ED LOS as a measure of efficiency and throughput.
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Primary torsion of the greater omentum is an uncommon cause of acute abdominal pain that mainly affects adults in their fourth or fifth decade. It was first described by Eitel in 1899. Since then, more than 300 cases have been reported in the published literature. Clinical presentation and imaging findings are often of limited value in the diagnosis of primary omental torsion (POT). The patients usually undergo laparotomy for "acute appendicitis" or acute abdomen of poorly defined origin. ⋯ Nowadays, laparoscopy is a safe and effective approach for the diagnosis and management of POT, with the advantages of reduced postoperative pain and hospital stay. Conservative management has also been advocated by some authors in selected patients with a preoperative diagnosis of POT based on computed tomography findings.
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Children presenting to the Pediatric Emergency Department (PED) with fever often describe symptoms such as lightheadedness, dizziness, fatigue, and weakness, and may appear pale. They may also present with a chief complaint of syncope. Such symptoms may result from orthostatic hypotension. ⋯ The incidence of orthostatic hypotension among febrile children in the PED is high, and may explain common symptoms such as dizziness or syncope. Such patients should be instructed to drink properly and to avoid rapid changes in body posture.
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Prehospital ultrasound has been shown to aid in the diagnosis of multiple conditions that do not generally change prehospital management. On the other hand, the diagnoses of cardiac tamponade, tension pneumothorax, or cardiac standstill may directly impact patient resuscitation in the field. ⋯ Paramedics were able to perform the PAUSE protocol and recognize the presence of pneumothorax, pericardial effusion, and cardiac standstill. The PAUSE protocol may potentially be useful in rapidly detecting specific life-threatening pathology in the prehospital environment, and warrants further study in existing EMS systems.
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Foreign body (FB) ingestions are frequent in children. Whereas the majority of FBs pass spontaneously through the gastrointestinal tract, ingestion of magnetic FBs pose a particular risk for obstruction due to proximate attraction through the intestinal wall. ⋯ Although ingestion of a single magnetic FB may, in most cases, be managed as a simple FB ingestion, the ingestion of multiple magnetic FB is associated with a high risk of complication and requires aggressive management. We propose an algorithm for management of children with magnetic FB ingestions.