Annals of emergency medicine
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Frequent emergency department (ED) users are of interest to policymakers and hospitals. The objective of this study is to examine the effect of health information exchange size on the identification of frequent ED users. ⋯ Increasing health information exchange size more accurately reflects how patients access EDs and ultimately improves not only the total number of identified frequent ED users but also their identification rate.
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The prevalence of agitation among emergency department (ED) patients is increasing. Physical restraints are routinely used to prevent self-harm and to protect staff, but are associated with serious safety risks. To date, characterization of physical restraint use in the emergency setting has been limited. We thus aim to describe restraint patterns in the general ED to guide future investigation in the management of behavioral disorders. ⋯ Our data found strong association of alcohol or drug use with physical restraints and identified a unique elderly population with behavioral disturbances in the ED. Further characterization of causal links and safer practices to manage agitation for these vulnerable populations are needed.