Articles: emergency-department.
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In this segment of the emergency department (ED) palliative care (PC) case series, we discuss a patient on hospice who presented to the ED for the management of acute symptoms and potential procedural intervention. Hospice patients frequently visit the ED and can challenge typical ED paradigms of care that often include resuscitative efforts and broad workups. ⋯ PC consultation was requested to help address the patient's symptoms and create a plan of care. The PC clinician played an important role in supporting aggressive symptom management, re-evaluating goals of care, addressing concerns about hospice, and facilitating changes in code status requested for a procedure.
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Artificial Intelligence (AI) models like GPT-3.5 and GPT-4 have shown promise across various domains but remain underexplored in healthcare. Emergency Departments (ED) rely on established scoring systems, such as NIHSS and HEART score, to guide clinical decision-making. This study aims to evaluate the proficiency of GPT-3.5 and GPT-4 against experienced ED physicians in calculating five commonly used medical scores. ⋯ While AI models demonstrated some level of concordance with human expertise, they fell short in emulating the complex clinical judgments that physicians make. The study suggests that current AI models may serve as supplementary tools but are not ready to replace human expertise in high-stakes settings like the ED. Further research is needed to explore the capabilities and limitations of AI in emergency medicine.
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Pediatric emergency care · May 2024
Improved Short-Term Prognosis of Pediatric Partial-Thickness Burns: Emergency Conservative Debridement Under Topical Anesthesia.
Early wound management for pediatric patients with partial-thickness burns in the emergency department remains debatable. This study aims to evaluate the value of emergency conservative debridement under topical anesthesia in improving short-term prognosis of pediatric partial-thickness burns. ⋯ Emergency conservative debridement of pediatric partial-thickness burns under topical anesthesia significantly improves the wound healing outcomes without increasing health care burden.
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Pediatric emergency care · May 2024
Long-Acting Reversible Contraception Knowledge Among Female Adolescents Presenting to a Pediatric Emergency Department.
The objective of this study was to assess awareness and use of long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) among female adolescents presenting to a pediatric emergency department (PED). ⋯ Knowledge about LARC remains low in our PED, despite it being the most effective method of contraception. Even when interventions were made to link interested respondents to outpatient women's health services, follow-up attendance was poor, and no patients obtained LARC. There is a significant discrepancy between the consensus standard of contraception care across all relevant medical specialties and current utilization by high-risk populations. Future efforts must focus on how to close this gap, and the ED could be pivotal for improving both reproductive health education and intervention among adolescent patients.
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Treatment for patients with cancer in the emergency department ranges from treating life-threatening emergencies to symptom management or issues unrelated to their cancer, but for which cancer and its treatment may be complicating factors. Nurses are expected to manage the care of this population and be aware of risk factors for complications that may be unique to cancer patients. To date, education for emergency nurses regarding oncologic emergencies and the care for patients with cancer has been limited. ⋯ Our findings suggest that emergency nurses need a stronger foundation of the knowledge and skills required to care for patients with cancer. Results from this study can inform future curriculum development efforts.