Articles: emergency-services.
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Pediatric emergency care · Sep 2024
Changes in Urine Drug Screen Sensitivity in Adolescent Opioid Presentations to the Emergency Department.
Adolescent overdoses have been rising over the past decade. Emergency department (ED) visits for both acute overdoses and for adolescents in opioid withdrawal have risen post-COVID. Urine drug screens have poor utility in the ED but are routinely obtained for medical clearance and in the management of patients with substance use disorder. Our primary goal was to measure the sensitivity of the opiate urine drug assay over time in opioid-related presentations to the ED. ⋯ Opiate screen positivity decreased the last 9 years and may reflect wider use of fentanyl among this population starting in 2020.
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Ulus Travma Acil Cerrahi Derg · Sep 2024
Neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio as a predictor of mortality among aortic dissection patients in the emergency department.
Aortic dissection (AD) is a serious cardiovascular condition associated with high mortality rates. The systemic inflammatory response can influence the prognosis of AD, and in this context, the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) emerges as a simple and rapid inflammatory biomarker. ⋯ The findings indicate that high NLR is strongly associated with increased mortality risk in patients with AD and can be used in emergency clinical settings to predict mortality.
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Southern medical journal · Sep 2024
Characteristics of Admissions from the Pediatric Emergency Department Observation Unit.
Emergency department observation units (EDOUs) are used to manage common pediatric illnesses and reduce the admission rate to the hospital. Most of these patients require a short duration of observation before a determination can be made whether they need to be admitted to the hospital or safely discharged home. The purpose of this study was to determine the characteristics of admissions from a pediatric EDOU for the top 10 diagnoses admitted to the unit. This will help standardize the disposition of such types of patients from the ED, hence improving the efficiency of the unit. ⋯ The characteristics of admissions from the EDOU may help us to understand historical experience regarding diagnoses, timing, and indications of deterioration, resource utilization, and other metrics that resulted in transfers of EDOU patients to the intensive care unit/operating room/inpatient units.