Articles: emergency-department.
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The Cost Shifting Economics of United States Emergency Department Professional Services (2016-2019).
We estimate the economics of US emergency department (ED) professional services, which is increasingly under strain given the longstanding effect of unreimbursed care, and falling Medicare and commercial payments. ⋯ Large cost-shifting from commercial insurance cross-subsidizes ED professional services for other patients. This includes the Medicaid-insured, Medicare-insured, and uninsured, all of whom incur ED professional service costs that substantially exceed their revenue. Foregone revenue for treating the uninsured relative to what may have been collected if patients had health insurance is substantial.
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Observational Study
Comparison of Prognostic Scores for Patients with COVID-19 Presenting with Dyspnea in the Emergency Department.
Easy-to-use bedside risk assessment is crucial for patients with COVID-19 in the overcrowded emergency department (ED). ⋯ Emergency physicians can effectively use S/F, ROX, and NEWS scores for rapid risk stratification of patients with COVID-19 infection. Moreover, from the perspective of simplicity and ease of calculation, we recommend the use of the S/F ratio.
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Emerg Med Australas · Dec 2023
Adult patients with constipation presenting to the emergency department: Can care be improved?
This study aimed to establish the demographic profile of adult patients presenting with constipation and constipation-related issues to an Australian tertiary hospital ED, investigate ED management and referral pathways in this cohort and determine satisfaction of these aspects of care from a patient's perspective. ⋯ This is the first study to investigate the management of constipation in adult patients in an Australian ED setting. It is important that ED clinicians recognise that functional constipation is a chronic condition and many patients have persistent symptoms. There are opportunities for quality-of-care improvements including diagnostics, treatment, and referral post-discharge to allied health, nursing and medical specialist services.
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Nationally, suicide ideation prevalence is comparable among White, American Indian/Alaska Native, Black, and Hispanic adults experiencing alcohol use disorder. This study examines whether such comparability extends to the probability of receiving a suicide ideation diagnosis when presenting with alcohol use disorder at emergency departments. The probability of hospitalization following such diagnosis is examined as well. ⋯ Diagnosis of suicide ideation, a key step in emergency department suicide prevention care, occurred significantly less often for patients of color with alcohol use disorder than for White counterparts. American Indians/Alaska Natives, the racial/ethnic group known to have the nation's highest suicide rate, had the lowest probability of being hospitalized after a diagnosis of alcohol use disorder plus suicide ideation.
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Emerg Med Australas · Dec 2023
Suspected myocardial infarction in the emergency department: An evaluation of clinical thresholds for the Beckman Coulter Access hsTnI high-sensitivity cardiac troponin I assay.
The primary objective was to determine rapid rule-out (RRO) criteria for the outcome of myocardial infarction (MI) using the Beckman Coulter Access high-sensitivity cardiac troponin I (hs-cTnI) assay. Secondary objectives were to explore cut-points for rapid rule-in (RRI) and amount of change at 3-h (3-h delta) indicative of MI. ⋯ For the Beckman Coulter Access hs-cTnI assay, RRO criteria of baseline hs-cTnI <6 ng/L (females) or <11 ng/L (males) plus symptom onset >2 h met our performance benchmark. A 3-h delta cut-point >35 ng/L met the performance benchmark, but poor precision means further adequately powered research is required.