Internal and emergency medicine
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Resource allocation in our overcrowded hospitals would require classification of inpatients according to the severity of illness, the evolving risk and the clinical complexity. Reverse triage (RT) is a method used in disasters to identify inpatients according to their use of hospital resources. The aim of this observational prospective study is to evaluate the use of RT in medical inpatients of an Italian Hospital and to compare the RT score with National Early Warning Score, Sequential Organ Failure Assessment and Charlson Comorbidity Index. ⋯ RT score showed similar values in the majority of the inpatients regardless of differences in NEWS, SOFA and CCI in different ward subgroups. RT-sum is related both to evolving severity (NEWS) and to clinical complexity (CCI). RT and NEWS could predict inpatient level of care and resource need associated with CCI.
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Although ketamine has been used for procedural sedation and analgesia, some researchers have assessed ketamine-propofol as a better alternative because of its reduced adverse events. The goal of this review was to compare adverse events between ketamine-propofol and ketamine for procedural sedation and analgesia in children. We searched the literature from their inception to May 2018 without the restriction of language. ⋯ In regard to nausea and vomiting, ketamine-propofol was significantly effective (RR 0.43, 95% CI 0.25-0.74). In addition, we could not demonstrate differences in efficacious sedation between ketamine-propofol and ketamine. Although our study was not able to demonstrate differences in efficacious sedation between ketamine-propofol and ketamine, we confirmed that ketamine-propofol sedation had a lower frequency of adverse events compared to ketamine sedation in children.
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Intravenous immunoglobulins are the cornerstone for the treatment of primary humoral immunodeficiencies and may be used for a great number of other autoimmune, neurological and hematological conditions as well. Given their wide application, the possibility of running across a patient who needs this kind of therapy is becoming increasingly common. ⋯ However, numerous adverse reactions ranging from mild to severe have been reported and linked to patient- and product-related factors. For all these reasons, we present herein a comprehensive review of the on- and off-label applications of intravenous immunoglobulins and provide a guide for the internist how to minimize the risk of adverse reactions and manage them.