Articles: emergency-services.
-
To describe the magnitude and characteristics of nonfatal firearm-related injuries treated in hospital emergency departments in the United States and to compare nonfatal injury rates with firearm-related fatality rates. ⋯ Nonfatal firearm-related injuries contribute substantially to the overall public health burden of firearm-related injuries. NEISS can be useful to monitor the number of nonfatal firearm-related injuries in the United States. A national surveillance system is needed to provide uniform data on firearm-related injury morbidity and mortality for use in research and prevention efforts.
-
To describe a population of patients who arrived in a pediatric emergency department with pulse and respirations but then sustained cardiopulmonary or respiratory arrest while in the ED. ⋯ Cardiopulmonary or respiratory arrest in the pediatric emergency department is rare. The rate of survival of such an arrest is superior to that in outpatient arrests but inferior to that in inpatient arrests.
-
Routine pelvic radiography is carried out in all blunt trauma patients referred to our Emergency Department according to advanced trauma life support protocols. In this retrospective study, we questioned whether it is cost-effective to obtain 'routine' pelvic X-ray films. The notes and X-rays of all consecutive patients with blunt trauma who were referred to the Emergency Department of Dokuz Eylül University Hospital, Izmir, Turkey, between August and December, 1993 were re-evaluated. ⋯ The difference between the groups were statistically significant (p < 0.001). As a result, we concluded that 'routine' pelvic radiography should be performed in the setting of blunt trauma only if the patient is: (a) unconscious, uncooperative or intoxicated, or (b) conscious, fully orientated and cooperative and complaining of pain both in the history and on pelvic examination. These limitations would allow us to decrease the amount of irradiation received, render more cost-effective treatment, and reduce the workload of emergency and radiology departments.
-
Pediatric emergency care · Jun 1995
Telephone follow-up of patients discharged from the emergency department: how reliable?
As the result of the current emphasis on health care cost containment, outpatient management of entities previously in the domain of inpatient therapy is being proposed. The advocates of this approach stress the importance of telephone follow-up in patients chosen for outpatient therapy. Our objective was to determine the reliability of phone follow-up in patients discharged from the emergency department (ED). ⋯ A mean of 1.61 +/- 1.09 calls were needed to reach the guardians who were successfully contacted, and the mean time required was 3.14 +/- 7.25 hours. Medical indication for telephone follow-up, as determined by the managing physician, did not influence our ability to reach the study subjects. In view of our moderate success rate in reaching patients discharged from the ED, we advocate caution in the implementation of outpatient strategies in the management of febrile children who are at high risk for life-threatening complications.