Annals of emergency medicine
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Although most transient ischemic attack and minor stroke patients in US emergency departments (EDs) are admitted, experience in other countries suggests that timely outpatient evaluation of transient ischemic attack and minor stroke can be safe. We assess the feasibility and safety of a rapid outpatient stroke clinic for transient ischemic attack and minor stroke: Rapid Access Vascular Evaluation-Neurology (RAVEN). ⋯ Rapid outpatient management appears a feasible and safe strategy for transient ischemic attack and minor stroke patients evaluated in the ED, with recurrent stroke and transient ischemic attack rates comparable to historical published data.
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This clinical policy from the American College of Emergency Physicians addressed key issues in the evaluation and management of adult patients presenting to the emergency department with acute headache. A writing subcommittee conducted a systematic review of the literature to derive evidence-based recommendations to answer the following clinical questions: (1) In the adult emergency department patient presenting with acute headache, are there risk-stratification strategies that reliably identify the need for emergent neuroimaging? (2) In the adult emergency department patient treated for acute primary headache, are nonopioids preferred to opioid medications? (3) In the adult emergency department patient presenting with acute headache, does a normal noncontrast head computed tomography scan performed within 6 hours of headache onset preclude the need for further diagnostic workup for subarachnoid hemorrhage? (4) In the adult emergency department patient who is still considered to be at risk for subarachnoid hemorrhage after a negative noncontrast head computed tomography, is computed tomography angiography of the head as effective as lumbar puncture to safely rule out subarachnoid hemorrhage? Evidence was graded and recommendations were made based on the strength of the available data.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Pragmatic Clinical Trial
Guideline-Based Clinical Assessment Versus Procalcitonin-Guided Antibiotic Use in Pneumonia: A Pragmatic Randomized Trial.
Efforts to reduce unnecessary and unnecessarily long antibiotic treatment for community-acquired pneumonia have been attempted through use of procalcitonin and through guidelines based on serial clinical assessment. Our aim is to compare guideline-based clinical assessment- and procalcitonin algorithm-guided antibiotic use among patients with community-acquired pneumonia. ⋯ Guideline-based serial clinical assessment did not reduce antibiotic exposure compared with procalcitonin-guided care among ED patients with community-acquired pneumonia. The strategies were similar in terms of duration of antibiotic use and clinical outcomes.
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Multicenter Study Observational Study
Validation of the Pediatric Appendicitis Risk Calculator (pARC) in a Community Emergency Department Setting.
The pediatric Appendicitis Risk Calculator (pARC) is a validated clinical tool for assessing a child's probability of appendicitis. Our objective was to assess the performance of the pARC in community emergency departments (EDs) and to compare its performance with that of the Pediatric Appendicitis Score (PAS). ⋯ The pARC accurately assessed appendicitis risk for children aged 5 years and older in community EDs and the pARC outperformed the PAS.
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Review Meta Analysis
Diagnostic Performance of Ultrasonography for Detection of Pediatric Elbow Fracture: A Meta-analysis.
We evaluate the diagnostic performance of ultrasonography for detection of elbow fracture in pediatric patients with trauma. ⋯ Elbow ultrasonography demonstrated high performance in the diagnosis of pediatric elbow fracture, particularly in studies of physicians with extra training in musculoskeletal ultrasonography. Ultrasonography may be performed by trained physicians as a first-line diagnostic tool to diagnose pediatric elbow fracture.