Emergency medicine journal : EMJ
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Observational Study
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on emergency medical service response to out-of-hospital cardiac arrests in Taiwan: a retrospective observational study.
Emergency medical service (EMS) personnel have high COVID-19 risk during resuscitation. The resuscitation protocol for patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) was modified in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, how the adjustments in the EMS system affected patients with OHCA remains unclear. ⋯ EMS response time for patients with OHCA was prolonged during the COVID-19 pandemic. Early advanced life support by EMS personnel remains crucial for patients with OHCA.
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Observational Study
Utility of bedside leucocyte esterase testing to rule out septic arthritis.
Suspected septic arthritis is a common presentation to EDs. The underlying diagnosis is often non-infective pathology. Differentiating between aetiologies is difficult. A bedside test with high negative predictive value (NPV) may allow safe discharge of patients, reduce the time in the ED, hospital admission and associated costs. This study aims to evaluate the NPV of bedside leucocyte esterase (LE) in the assessment of these patients. ⋯ LE point-of-care testing for suspected septic arthritis of native joints has a high NPV. Implementation of LE may facilitate more rapid discharge of patients with negative results. This test has the potential to reduce diagnostic uncertainty and costs to the healthcare system.