Annals of emergency medicine
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To assess whether a general emergency department's (ED) annual pediatric sepsis volume increases the odds of delivering care concordant with Surviving Sepsis pediatric guidelines. ⋯ Guideline-concordant sepsis care was delivered in 41% of pediatric sepsis cases in general EDs, and annual ED pediatric sepsis encounters had minimal association with the odds of concordant care. Care concordance improved over time. This study suggests that factors other than pediatric sepsis volume are important in driving care quality and identifying drivers of improvement is important for children first treated in general EDs.
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Bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) rates remain low in the United States. Training children is a proposed method to increase this rate, but data on the compression efficacy of US elementary school-aged children are scarce. We hypothesized that fourth and fifth graders could learn how to respond to cardiac arrests and provide effective chest compressions. ⋯ Most students were able to learn hands-only CPR, apply their knowledge during a simulated cardiac arrest scenario, and deliver effective chest compressions. Students' confidence and willingness to perform CPR increased after the intervention.
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Although an increasing number of emergency departments (ED) offer opioid agonist treatment, naloxone, and other harm reduction measures, little is known about patient perspectives on harm reduction practices delivered in the ED. The objective of this study was to identify patient-focused barriers and facilitators to harm reduction strategies in the ED. ⋯ In this study, people with lived experience discussed the characteristics and need for user-centered harm reduction strategies in the ED that centered on reducing stigma, treatment of withdrawal, and availability of harm reduction materials.