Annals of emergency medicine
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Observational Study
An Outcome Comparison Between Geriatric and Nongeriatric Emergency Departments.
We sought to describe diagnosis rates and compare common process outcomes between geriatric emergency departments (EDs) and nongeriatric EDs participating in the American College of Emergency Physicians Clinical Emergency Data Registry (CEDR). ⋯ Geriatric EDs had higher geriatric syndrome diagnosis rates, lower ED lengths of stay, and similar discharge and 72-hour revisit rates when compared with nongeriatric EDs in the CEDR. These findings provide the first benchmarks for emergency care process outcomes in geriatric EDs compared with nongeriatric EDs.
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Little is known about the effectiveness of bridge clinics as transitional care programs for people with opioid use disorder in emergency departments (EDs). We assessed the effect of bridge clinic referral on health services use among patients with opioid use disorder identified in the ED. ⋯ Our overall results suggest that bridge clinic referral increases linkage to long-term care. Nevertheless, qualitatively different effects on inpatient admission between patients with and without serious mental illness warrant consideration of unmet needs among patients with serious mental illness.
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We describe emergency department (ED) visit volume, illness severity, and crowding metrics from the onset of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic through mid-2022. ⋯ ED visit volumes fell early in the pandemic and have only partly recovered. Despite lower volumes, ED crowding has increased. This issue is magnified in psychiatric patients.
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The aim of this study was to examine the epidemiology of alcohol-associated fall injuries among older adults aged ≥65 years in the United States. ⋯ Our findings highlight the rising rates of ED visits for alcohol-associated falls among older adults during the study period. Health care providers in the ED can screen older adults for fall risk and assess for modifiable risk factors such as alcohol use to help identify those who could benefit from interventions to reduce their risk.