Articles: emergency-services.
-
Emerg Med Australas · Feb 2024
End-of-life care: A retrospective cohort study of older people who died within 48 hours of presentation to the emergency department.
To describe the characteristics of, and care provided to, older people who died within 48 h of ED presentation. ⋯ Identification of patients at end-of-life (EoL) is not always straightforward; consider recent reduction in independence and recent ED visits/hospital admissions. System-based strategies that span pre-hospital, ED and in-patient care are recommended to facilitate EoL pathway implementation and care continuity.
-
Review Meta Analysis
The accuracy of total body weight estimation in adults - A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Weight estimation is required in adult patients when weight-based medication must be administered during emergency care, as measuring weight is often impossible. Inaccurate estimations may lead to inaccurate drug doses, which may cause patient harm. Little is known about the relative accuracy of different methods of weight estimation that could be used during resuscitative care. The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance and suitability of existing weight estimation methods for use in adult emergency care. ⋯ Patient self-estimations of weight were generally very accurate and should be the method of choice during emergency care, when possible. However, since alternative estimation methods must be available when confused, or otherwise incapacitated, patients are unable to provide an estimate, alternative strategies of weight estimation should also be available.
-
Ocular emergencies comprise 2-3% of emergency department (ED) visits, with retinal detachment requiring emergency surgery. Two-dimensional ultrasound is a rapid bedside tool but is highly operator dependent. ⋯ A 3DUS-enabling device demonstrates a sensitivity of 0.81 and specificity of 0.73 for disease detection, fast image acquisition, and may reduce operator dependence for detecting emergent retinal pathologies. Further technological development is needed to improve diagnostic accuracy in identifying and characterizing retinal pathology.