Annals of emergency medicine
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Observational Study
Hospital Occupancy and its Effect on Emergency Department Evaluation.
To examine whether hospital occupancy was associated with increased testing and treatment during emergency department (ED) evaluations, resulting in reduced admissions. ⋯ The lack of association between hospital occupancy and laboratory testing, advanced imaging, and medication administration suggest that changes in ED testing or treatment did not facilitate the decrease in admissions during periods of high hospital occupancy.
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The aim of this study was to investigate whether myocardial infarction can be safely ruled in or out after 30 minutes as an alternative to 1 hour. ⋯ The accelerated 0-h/30-min algorithm allowed for safe rule-out of myocardial infarction 30 minutes after admission. The rule-in ability of the 0-h/30-min algorithm was comparable to that of the 0-h/1h algorithm.
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Observational Study
Universal SARS-CoV-2 Testing of Emergency Department Admissions Increases Emergency Department Length of Stay.
Our institution experienced a change in SARS-CoV-2 testing policy as well as substantial changes in local COVID-19 prevalence, allowing for a unique examination of the relationship between SARS-CoV-2 testing and emergency department (ED) length of stay. ⋯ Although universal SARS-CoV-2 testing of ED admissions may meaningfully support mitigation and containment efforts, the clinical cost of testing all admissions amid low community positivity is notable. In our system, universal ED SARS-CoV-2 testing was associated with a 24% increase in admission length of stay alongside the detection of only 1 positive case every other day. Given the known harms and risks of ED boarding and crowding, solutions must be developed to support regular operational flow while balancing infection prevention needs.
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Observational Study
Examining the Gender Gap in Emergency Medicine Research Publications.
The objective of this study was to describe the proportion of female authors on original research articles and editorials across 4 emergency medicine journals from 2013 to 2019. A secondary objective was to examine the gender composition of middle authors in relation to the genders of their respective first and last authors. ⋯ Over the 7 years examined, female authorship in these emergency medicine journals increased. A more pronounced gender gap exists in editorial authorship compared to research articles. On publications where the first and last author were women, a higher proportion of middle authors were women.