Articles: emergency-department.
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On August 4, 2020, Lebanon suffered its largest mass casualty incident (MCI) to date: the Beirut Port blast. Hospital emergency response to MCIs is particularly challenging in low- and middle-income countries, where emergency medical services are not well developed and where hospitals have to rapidly scale up capacity to receive large influxes of casualties. This article describes the American University of Beirut Medical Center (AUBMC) response to the Beirut Port blast and outlines the lessons learned. ⋯ Hospital MCI preparedness plans can integrate several strategies that are effective in quickly scaling up capacity to respond to large MCIs. These are especially necessary in countries that lack coordinated prehospital systems.
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Acta clinica Croatica · Dec 2023
THE ROLE OF PLASMA COPEPTIN LEVEL IN DETERMINING THE SEVERITY AND MORTALITY OF SUBARACHNOID HEMORRHAGE.
The study aimed to investigate the role of plasma copeptin level in setting the diagnosis, severity and mortality of patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) admitted to the emergency department. We included patients aged ≥18 years who were diagnosed with SAH. Blood samples were collected from patients at the time of admission to the emergency department for assessment of plasma copeptin levels. ⋯ There was no significant correlation of plasma copeptin levels with the GCS, WFNS, and modified Fisher scores. There was no significant difference in copeptin levels between the patients who died in the hospital (mean: 0.73±0.42 ng/mL) and those who did not (mean: 0.80±0.41 ng/mL) (p=0.41). Although plasma copeptin level may be used in the diagnosis of SAH, it does not have a role in determining the patient condition severity and mortality.