Emergency medicine journal : EMJ
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A short-cut review was carried out to establish whether flushing an intraosseous needle with local anaesthetic or saline is more effective at reducing the pain injecting drugs or fluid via this route. Two studies were relevant to the question. The author, date and country of publication, patient group studied, study type, relevant outcomes, results and study weaknesses of these papers are shown in table 1. The clinical bottom line is that injecting lidocaine both before and after flushing an intraosseous needle is an effective method of reducing the pain of fluid infusion via this route.
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Urinary tract infection (UTI) is a common bacterial infection in children that can result in permanent renal damage. This study prospectively assessed the diagnostic performance of procalcitonin (PCT) for predicting acute pyelonephritis (APN) among children with febrile UTI presenting to the paediatric emergency department (ED). ⋯ PCT has better sensitivity and specificity than CRP and WBC count for distinguishing between APN and lower UTI. PCT is a valuable marker for predicting APN in children with febrile UTI. It may be considered in the initial investigation and therapeutic strategies for children presenting to the ED.
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People who inject drugs (PWID) have worse health than non-injectors and are at heightened risk of incidents that necessitate hospital emergency department (ED) visits. ⋯ PWID in Melbourne and Vancouver attend EDs for different reasons; information about PWID visits can help EDs cater for them and provide insights for prevention.