Articles: emergency-department.
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Eur. J. Intern. Med. · Jan 2014
Risk factors associated with adverse drug events among older adults in emergency department.
Little is known about the emergency department (ED) visits from drug-related injury among older adults in Taiwan. This study seeks to identify risk factors associated with adverse drug events (ADEs) leading to ED visits. ⋯ This study suggests that prevention efforts should be focused on older patients with renal insufficiency and polypharmacy who are using high risk medications such as anticoagulants, diuretics, cardiovascular agents, analgesics, and anti-diabetic agents.
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Observational Study
Medication errors in psychiatric patients boarded in the emergency department.
Patients boarded in the emergency department (ED) with psychiatric complaints may be at risk for medication errors. However, no studies exist to characterize the types of errors and risk factors for errors in these patients. ⋯ Psychiatric patients boarded in the ED commonly have medication errors that require intervention.
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Scand J Trauma Resus · Jan 2014
The use of transcutaneous CO2 monitoring in cardiac arrest patients: a feasibility study.
Prediction of the return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) in cardiac arrest patients is a parameter for deciding when to stop cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) or to start extracorporeal CPR. We investigated the change in transcutaneous PCO2 (PtcCO2) in cardiac arrest patients. ⋯ PtcCO2 monitoring provides non-invasive, continuous, and useful monitoring in cardiac arrest patients.
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Multicenter Study
The emergency department "carousel": an ethnographically-derived model of the dynamics of patient flow.
Emergency department (ED) overcrowding reduces efficiency and increases the risk of medical error leading to adverse events. Technical solutions and models have done little to redress this. A full year's worth of ethnographic observations of patient flow were undertaken, which involved making hand-written field-notes of the communication and activities of emergency clinicians (doctors and nurses), in two EDs in Sydney, Australia. ⋯ The carousel model uniquely integrates diagnosis, treatment and transfer of individual patients with the intellectual labour of leading and coordinating the department. The latter involves managing staff skill mix and the allocation of patients to particular ED sub-departments. The model extends traditional patient flow representations and underlines the importance of valuing ethnographic methods in health services research, in order to foster organisational learning, and generate creative practical and policy alternatives that may, for example, reduce or ameliorate access block and ED overcrowding.
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Child Adolesc Psychiatr Clin N Am · Jan 2014
ReviewManagement of agitation in individuals with autism spectrum disorders in the emergency department.
Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) presenting with acute agitation in emergency departments (ED) during a crisis situation present both diagnostic and treatment challenges for ED personnel, families, caregivers, and patients seeking treatment. This article describes the challenges that individuals with ASD face when receiving treatment in crisis and emergency settings. Additionally, this article provides information for emergency physicians, ED personnel, and crisis response teams on a systematic, minimally restrictive approach when assessing and providing treatment to patients with ASD presenting with acute agitation in ED settings.