Articles: emergency-department.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
A Randomized Trial on Subject Tolerance and the Adverse Effects Associated With Higher- vs Lower-Flow Oxygen Through a Standard Nasal Cannula.
Experts advocate the use of a standard nasal cannula to provide oxygen at flow rates of up to 15 L/minute during emergency intubation. However, because of concerns about potential patient discomfort, some providers avoid providing nasal cannula oxygen at flow rates greater than 6 L/minute. This trial is designed to determine the participants' ability to tolerate 10 minutes of nasal cannula oxygen at higher flow rates. ⋯ Participants were able to tolerate higher-flow nasal cannula oxygen for 10 minutes without difficulty. Higher-flow nasal cannula oxygen at 15 L/minute was associated with some discomfort, but the discomfort quickly dissipated and caused no adverse events.
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Emerg Med Australas · Apr 2015
ReviewReview article: Emergency department models of care in the context of care quality and cost: A systematic review.
To identify current ED models of care and their impact on care quality, care effectiveness, and cost. A systematic search of key health databases (Medline, CINAHL, Cochrane, EMbase) was conducted to identify literature on ED models of care. Additionally, a focused review of the contents of 11 international and national emergency medicine, nursing and health economic journals (published between 2010 and 2013) was undertaken with snowball identification of references of the most recent and relevant papers. ⋯ Models often varied to account for site specific characteristics (e.g. onsite inpatient units) or to suit staffing profiles (e.g. extended scope physiotherapist), ED geographical location (e.g. metropolitan or rural site), and patient demographic profile (e.g. paediatrics, older persons, ethnicity). Only a few studies conducted cost-effectiveness analysis of service models. Although various models of delivering emergency healthcare exist, further research is required in order to make accurate and reliable assessments of their safety, clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness.
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Comparative Study
A comparison of routine, opt-out HIV screening with the expected yield from physician-directed HIV testing in the ED.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends routine opt-out HIV screening in health care settings. Our goal was to evaluate the feasibility and yield of this strategy in the emergency department (ED) and to compare it to the expected yield of physician-directed testing. ⋯ Routine opt-out HIV screening was feasible and accepted by a majority of ED patients. The yield of this strategy only modestly exceeded what may have been observed with physician-directed testing.