Annals of emergency medicine
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Simplification of emergency department discharge instructions improves patient comprehension.
Emergency department patients have been shown to have difficulty understanding written discharge instructions. We attempted to determine whether improvements in comprehension can be achieved by simplification of available materials. ⋯ Simplified written materials may help patients who do not understand current standard materials. Health care providers should simplify written materials to make them understandable to the greatest number of patients.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Prospective, randomized trial of epinephrine, metaproterenol, and both in the prehospital treatment of asthma in the adult patient.
To compare the effectiveness and incidence of adverse reactions with three treatment regimens for asthma in adults in the prehospital setting. ⋯ Nebulized metaproterenol is as effective as subcutaneous epinephrine in the prehospital treatment of adult patients with acute asthma. The combination of these two treatments offered no additional clinical benefit in the patients we studied.
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Comparative Study
Gender-associated differences in emergency department pain management.
To determine whether patient or provider gender is associated with the number, type, and strength of medications received by emergency department patients with headache, neck pain, or back pain. ⋯ Female patients with headache, neck pain, or back pain describe more pain and are perceived by providers to have more pain than male patients in the ED. Female patients also receive more medications and stronger analgesics. In this study, severity of patient pain rather than gender stereotyping appeared to correlate most with pain-management practices.
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Case Reports
Avulsion fracture of the anterior superior iliac spine presenting as acute-onset meralgia paresthetica.
Avulsion fracture of the anterior superior iliac spine is rare. Most cases occur in adolescents involved in competitive sports or vigorous exercise in which the sartorius and tensor fascia lata muscles are contracted strongly and suddenly against a hyperextended trunk. ⋯ We describe a patient with avulsion of the anterior superior iliac spine who presented with meralgia paresthetica. The symptoms resolved with conservative treatment.