Articles: emergency-department.
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To determine if race/ethnicity-based differences exist in the management of pediatric abdominal pain in emergency departments (EDs). ⋯ Race/ethnicity-based disparities exist in ED analgesic use and LOS for pediatric abdominal pain. Recognizing these disparities may help investigators eliminate inequalities in care.
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Comparative Study
Experiences of patients with acute abdominal pain in the ED or acute surgical ward --a qualitative comparative study.
The Danish health care system is currently establishing emergency departments (EDs) with an observation unit nationwide. The aim of the study was to investigate patients with acute abdominal pain and their experiences upon arrival and stay in an acute surgical ward (ASW) versus an ED with an observation unit. A phenomenological-hermeneutic comparative field study with participant observation and interviews was performed. ⋯ In ASW, focus was on assessment by a senior physician, only, and the nurses' interaction with the patients took place after surgical assessment. In all, patients experienced long waiting times. The study shows a need to define the roles of the professionals in units receiving patients with acute abdominal pain in order to fulfil the medical as well as the experienced needs of the acute patient.
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Medication errors are an important cause of preventable morbidity, especially in children in emergency department (ED) settings. Internal use of voluntary incident reporting (IR) is common within hospitals, with little external reporting or sharing of this information across institutions. We describe the analysis of paediatric medication events (ME) reported in 18 EDs in a paediatric research network in 2007-2008. ⋯ ME reporting by the system revealed valuable data across sites on medication categories and potential human factors. Harm was infrequently reported. Our analyses identify trends and latent systems issues, suggesting areas for future interventions to reduce paediatric ED medication errors.
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To review clinical indications and demographics of transfusion and the patterns of blood component ordering, transfusion, wastage and traceability, before (2007) and after (2011) implementation of simple improvement strategies. ⋯ Blood component ordering, usage and traceability within the ED have improved significantly since 2007 following implementation of simple strategies. The age of ED transfusion recipients is increasing.
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Internal medicine journal · Oct 2013
Impact of emergency access targets on admissions to general medicine: a retrospective cohort study.
Emergency access targets have been implemented Australia-wide following recent retrospective cohort studies linking emergency department (ED) overcrowding and excess mortality. ⋯ Implementation of a 4-h access target has been associated with changes to the characteristics of patients admitted to GM, including higher proportions of younger patients, with fewer comorbid conditions and lower clinical urgency at presentation, although the latter may be explained by a coincidental change in the way that ED patients were triaged, as well as a greater number of these patients presenting to ED overall.