Articles: emergency-department.
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Patient-reported penicillin allergies are frequently encountered in the emergency department (ED), which often lead to non-beta-lactam antibiotic use despite beta-lactams' place as first-line therapy in most bacterial infections. The PEN-FAST clinical decision tool was developed and validated to identify patients with a low risk of true penicillin allergies that do not require formal skin testing for rechallenging. The tool consists of four questions that add up to a total score ranging from 0 to 5. Scores of 0-2 are associated with low risk of true penicillin allergy (<5% risk of true reaction); scores of 3 with moderate risk (<20% risk); and scores of 4-5 with high risk (50% risk). The purpose of our study was to determine the safety and efficacy of our facility's implementation of pharmacist utilization of the PEN-FAST screening tool to assess purported penicillin allergies and rechallenge low to moderate risk patients in the ED. ⋯ In this prospective, observational study, administration of beta-lactam antibiotics to ED patients with previously reported penicillin allergies and a PEN-FAST score less than 3 did not result in any immune-mediated reactions. The PEN-FAST decision tool was able to safely identify and risk-stratify eligible patients for beta-lactam rechallenge in the ED.
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Advanced cardiovascular life support (ACLS) for cardiac arrest is a cornerstone of emergency care and yet remains poorly studied in low- and middle-income countries. We characterised the clinical epidemiology and outcomes of cardiac arrest and ACLS in an ED in central Haiti, a lower middle-income country with a nascent emergency care system. ⋯ In this lower middle-income setting, cardiac arrest in the ED was associated with poor survival despite ACLS. Survival may be impacted by limited resources for prearrest monitoring as well as for ongoing critical care.
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Emergency department encounters include an increasing number of patients with limited English proficiency, yet little is known about the impact of interpreter services on unplanned revisits to the emergency department. This study aims to assess interpreters' utilization and unplanned ED revisits, serving as an indicator of care quality. ⋯ This study reveals a higher unplanned ED revisit rate among limited English proficiency patients, potentially linked to varying interpreter modality effectiveness and underutilization of trained interpreters. Emphasizing the critical role of trained interpreters, these findings offer an opportunity to enhance care quality for limited English proficiency patients in the emergency department.
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In this study, we aimed to explore the association between the choice of empirical antibiotic therapy and outcomes in ED patients with sepsis. ⋯ Empirical combination antibiotic therapy was not associated with reduced mortality in ED patients with sepsis. Compared with cephalosporins, penicillins and vancomycin, quinolone mono-antibiotic therapy was significantly associated with a decreased risk of in-hospital mortality, especially in patients with respiratory tract infections.