Articles: emergency-services.
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Pediatric emergency care · Feb 2025
The National Emergency Department Overcrowding Scale and Perceived Staff Workload: Evidence for Construct Validity in a Pediatric Setting.
The aim of the study is to determine if there is a correlation between perceived staff workload, measured by the NASA Task Load Index (TLX), and the National Emergency Department Overcrowding Scale (NEDOCS) in a pediatric ED. ⋯ NEDOCS does not have a strong correlation with individual responses on questionnaires of perceived workload for staff in a pediatric ED. NEDOCS, as a measure of overcrowding, may be better correlated with perceived workload during periods with elevated crowding or when interpreted categorically as yes/no "severely overcrowded".
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Recent studies have validated the efficacy of point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) as an alternative diagnostic imaging approach to computed tomography (CT) for patients with suspected acute diverticulitis. This study aimed to quantify the national impact of this approach in cost savings, ED length-of-stay (LOS), and radiation risk mitigation using a POCUS-first approach for acute diverticulitis in the emergency department (ED). ⋯ Both POCUS-first models can achieve substantial national annual cost savings, ED LOS reduction, and decreases in radiation exposure compared to the traditional CT-first approach. POCUS should be strongly considered as a first-line imaging modality for acute diverticulitis especially among low-risk patients.
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Multicenter Study
Development of a Clinical Risk Score to Risk Stratify for a Serious Cause of Vertigo in Patients Presenting to the Emergency Department.
Identify high-risk clinical characteristics for a serious cause of vertigo in patients presenting to the emergency department (ED). ⋯ The Sudbury Vertigo Risk Score identifies the risk of a serious diagnosis as a cause of a patient's vertigo and if validated could assist physicians in guiding further investigation, consultation, and treatment decisions, improving resource utilization and reducing missed diagnoses.
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Emerg Med Australas · Feb 2025
Multicenter Study Observational StudyHospitalisations for non-specific low back pain in people presenting to South Australian public hospital emergency departments.
The present study sought to investigate predictors of hospitalisation in adults diagnosed with non-specific low back pain (LBP) and/or sciatica from an ED. ⋯ Certain patient characteristics and ED clinical activity are associated with hospitalisations for LBP. Understanding these factors will better inform the design and delivery of appropriate high-quality care.
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People who use substances increasingly access healthcare primarily through emergency medical services (EMS) and emergency departments (EDs). To meet the needs of these patients, EMS and EDs have become access points for medications for opioid use disorder (OUD), specifically buprenorphine. This systematic review aimed to quantify the efficacy of these programs, examining retention in treatment for OUD, rates of re-presentation to ED or EMS, and rates of precipitated withdrawal, as well as summarise clinician and patient perspectives on buprenorphine initiation in these settings. ⋯ The initiation of buprenorphine in the ED setting is associated with higher odds of short and medium-term treatment engagement. Further research is required into EMS-initiated buprenorphine, as well as patient perspectives of ED- and EMS-initiated buprenorphine.