Articles: emergency-services.
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Pediatric emergency care · Jul 2024
Impact of a Mental Health Screening Process in a Pediatric Emergency Department.
The aim of this study was to describe how specific mental health-trained social workers can assist in the evaluations and follow-up of patients presenting with mental health concerns in the pediatric emergency department (ED). ⋯ Despite an increasing number of patients presenting to the ED with mental health crisis, safe and efficient management is possible with ED staff-social worker partnership. This approach can ensure that eligible patients receive consistent and evidence-based evaluations and can allow ED clinicians to respond to medical emergencies that require their attention.
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Noninvasive continuous blood pressure monitoring has the potential to improve patient treatment in the hospital setting. Such noninvasive devices can be applied earlier in the treatment process to empower nurses and clinicians to react more quickly to patient deterioration with the added benefit of eliminating the risks associated with invasive monitoring. However, emerging technologies must be capable of reproducing current clinical measures for medical decision making. ⋯ Taken together, the tested device requires additional postprocessing for medical decision making in trauma or emergent care.
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Pediatric emergency care · Jul 2024
Catching Suicide Before It Harms: Universal Suicide Screening in a Pediatric Emergency Department.
Suicide is the second leading cause of death in people aged 10 to 24 years. We aim to assess the effectiveness of universal suicide screening in a pediatric ED. ⋯ Several patients who screened positive for suicide risk did not present with a mental health concern. Nearly half of screen-positive children who were admitted for mental health concerns had been seen in the ED in the year before their visit. Initiation of universal suicide screening in the pediatric ED identified a significant number of children with unrecognized suicide risk.
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Substance misuse in the United States has continuously proven to be a public health issue. The impact of substance use disorder and the injury and illness it produces creates challenges in the public health sector. This quality improvement project aimed to increase screening and referral rates in a rural emergency department. ⋯ It is possible for substance use disorder screening and referral to be implemented in every emergency department across the nation and beyond to help identify patients struggling with substance misuse and refer them to the appropriate treatment upon discharge. Substance use disorder screening and referral are an evidence-based method, and sufficient evidence supports the current practice of emergency departments implementing routine substance use disorder screening and referral as standard of care.
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Singapore medical journal · Jul 2024
Symptoms and coronary risk factors predictive of adverse cardiac events in chest pain patients in an Asian emergency department: the need for a local prediction score.
Clinical assessment is pivotal in diagnosing acute coronary syndrome. Our study aimed to identify clinical characteristics predictive of major adverse cardiac events (MACE) in an Asian population and to derive a risk score for MACE. ⋯ The ACSS risk score shows potential for use in the local ED or primary care setting, potentially reducing unnecessary cardiac investigations and admission.