Articles: emergency-services.
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Health care systems are increasingly screening for unmet social needs. The association between patient-reported social needs and health care utilization is not well understood. ⋯ Patient-reported social needs were common and associated with health care utilization patterns. Future research should identify interventions to address unmet social needs to improve health and avoid potentially preventable escalating medical intervention.
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Asthma is a leading cause of pediatric emergency department visits, yet few tools exist to objectively measure asthma severity. Diaphragmatic ultrasound (DUS) is a novel method of assessing respiratory distress; however, data are lacking for children.Our primary aim was to determine if diaphragmatic excursion (DE), diaphragmatic thickening (DT), or diaphragmatic thickening fraction (TF) correlated with asthma severity as determined by the Pediatric Respiratory Assessment Measure (PRAM) score. Secondarily, we examined if these parameters correlated with need for respiratory support and evaluated interrater reliability. ⋯ In this pilot study, we conclude that DUS may be helpful in assessing severity of asthma. The midaxillary view assessment for DT and TF had the best correlation with asthma severity and the best interrater reliability. Future studies may benefit from focusing on the midaxillary view for DT and TF.
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Emergency department (ED) overcrowding presents a global challenge that inhibits prompt care for critically ill patients. Traditional 5-level triage system that heavily rely on the judgment of the triage staff could fail to detect subtle symptoms in critical patients, thus leading to delayed treatment. Unlike previous rivalry-focused approaches, our study aimed to establish a collaborative machine learning (ML) model that renders risk scores for severe illness, which may assist the triage staff to provide a better patient stratification for timely critical cares. ⋯ The traditional 5-level triage system often falls short, leading to under-triage of critical patients. Our models include a score-based differentiation within a triage level to offer advanced risk stratification, thereby promoting patient safety.
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Incidental findings are unrelated to a patient's complaint, found on diagnostic imaging, such as point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS). Incidental findings represent potential harms to patients and may lead to increased patient anxiety and health care costs related to downstream testing and surveillance. ⋯ Incidental renal cysts are common and are more likely to be found in older adults. In our study, physicians infrequently informed patients of their incidental finding.
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Methamphetamine-associated cardiomyopathy (MACM) is a known complication of methamphetamine use; however, risk factors and outcomes of patients with MACM are not well understood. ⋯ Patients who developed MACM had traditional risk factors for heart failure and experienced significantly more ED visits, more hospitalizations, and longer hospital stays than matched controls.