Articles: emergency-department.
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Acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in the emergency department (ED) involve dyspnea, cough, and chest discomfort; frequent exacerbations are associated with increased mortality and reduced quality of life. Noninvasive positive pressure ventilation (NiPPV) is commonly used to help relieve symptoms but is limited due to patient intolerance. We aimed to determine whether high-velocity nasal insufflation (HVNI) is noninferior to NiPPV in relieving dyspnea within 4 h in ED patients with acute hypercapnic respiratory failure. ⋯ In participants with symptomatic COPD, HVNI was noninferior to NiPPV in relieving dyspnea 4 h after therapy initiation. HVNI may be a reasonable treatment option for some patients experiencing moderate acute exacerbations of COPD in the ED.
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To describe mortality predictive factors in patients 80years or older with infection who were visited at the emergency department and were admitted to hospital. ⋯ qSOFA and SOFA scores, the sepsis and septic shock criteria, as well as frailty are predictive factors of poor prognosis in very elderly patients who come to the emergency room due to infection. Knowing frailty would allow us to adapt the treatment and therapeutic effort to the patient's characteristics.
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Pediatric emergency care · Dec 2024
Understanding Strategies to Reduce the Impact of Non-urgent Visits to the Pediatric Emergency Department: A Scoping Review.
The pediatric emergency department (PED) is increasingly being used for non-urgent reasons. This impacts PED input and throughput, and contributes to overcrowding. To identify solutions, it is essential to identify and describe the approaches that have been trialed. ⋯ Consistent definitions of non-urgent visits and standardized outcome measures may allow for more precise comparisons between studies. We identify 3 commonly employed strategies that may help reduce the impact of non-urgent visits on the PED.
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Identification of a neonatal horseshoe kidney in the emergency department is uncommon but has implications for future healthcare planning for patients. We present a case of a neonate with bloody diapers who was evaluated with renal point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) that identified a horseshoe kidney. ⋯ Midline interrogation is not part of the routine technique for ultrasound imaging of the kidney but should be considered when the limits of the lower pole of bilateral kidneys are difficult to visualize. This case highlights the importance of understanding normal anatomical landmarks when performing renal POCUS to identify renal anomalies.
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Hospital admission is a significant event in the healthcare trajectory of older adults (age 60 +). Numerous harms such as delirium, falls, and adverse medication events can arise that outweigh the benefits of admission. Little is known about how older adults feel about being hospitalized or what they think admission will achieve for them. These issues are particularly important to understand in socioeconomically disadvantaged patients, who have poor access to outpatient care and higher hospitalization rates. ⋯ Older adults' expectations of hospitalization exceed stabilization of acute illness. Hospital admission of older adults presents an opportunity for shared decision-making and communication about likely outcomes of hospitalization. Incorporating patient-centered outcomes into admission decisions may help align care with older adults' priorities in the ED.