Articles: emergency-medicine.
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The growing prevalence of heat stroke as a public health issue, exacerbated by climate change and increasing global temperatures, demands an immediate and strategic response to prevent weather-related morbidity and mortality. Heat stroke results from the body's inability to cope with excessive heat, leading to systemic inflammatory responses, cellular apoptosis, and potential multiorgan dysfunction or failure. However, little information explicitly outlines how to perform cold-water immersion in the emergency department (ED), including potential patient selection, how much water or ice to use, target temperatures, when to stop, and complications or challenges with the process. ⋯ Additionally, the article addresses challenges and lessons learned during the protocol's implementation, emphasizing the importance of multidisciplinary collaboration, staff education, and the adaptation of ED infrastructure to support this lifesaving treatment based on its use during the last 3 years. The successful resolution of the presented cases, along with the protocol's potential for widespread adoption, illustrates the critical role of cold-water immersion in enhancing ED responses to heat stroke, offering a blueprint for future research and the development of similar protocols across health care settings. This work contributes to the evolving landscape of emergency medicine and aligns with the global effort to combat the adverse health effects of climate change.
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This study aimed to explore how nurses experience relational work in the emergency department. ⋯ Relational care in the emergency department is optional and individually performed. Moreover, emergency nurses lack a vocabulary to express this type of work. Consequently, there is a risk that patients' psychosocial needs are not sufficiently met. According to the emergency nurses participating in this study, nurses fall short when performing and describing relational care. Nurses need more knowledge to address the psychosocial patient needs during short-term hospital admissions. Relational care and patient centeredness also need to be acknowledged by nursing leaders and further developed.
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Comparative Study Observational Study
Comparative Analysis of Frailty Scales in Emergency Department: Highlighting the Strengths of the Triage Frailty and Comorbidity Tool.
Currently, there is uncertainty about which frailty scale is most appropriate and valid for use in the emergency department. The objective of this study was to compare the most commonly used frailty scales in triage and evaluate their performance. ⋯ The findings of this study suggest that the Triage Frailty and Comorbidity tool is a valid instrument for assessing frailty in the emergency department. Moreover, among the scales used, it is the only 1 that considers the entire adult population, not just those aged >65 years, making it more inclusive for a setting such as the emergency department.