Annals of emergency medicine
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Identify high-risk clinical characteristics for a serious cause of vertigo in patients presenting to the emergency department (ED). ⋯ The Sudbury Vertigo Risk Score identifies the risk of a serious diagnosis as a cause of a patient's vertigo and if validated could assist physicians in guiding further investigation, consultation, and treatment decisions, improving resource utilization and reducing missed diagnoses.
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Violence in the emergency department (ED) has been escalating for decades worldwide. High-stress situations are commonplace in the ED and can lead to intentional and unintentional aggression from patients. Staff must be educated on the signs of violence and escalation to recognize potentially dangerous situations early. ⋯ Formalized procedures and policies should clearly assign roles for each staff member in the event of a violent patient. Training programs should be instituted and may include self-defense classes or crisis intervention courses. Emergency medicine residency programs and EDs around the country must address the rising incidence of violence within EDs through interdisciplinary policy, procedure development, and prevention and mitigation programs.
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Early prognostic stratification could optimize the management of patients with upper gastrointestinal bleeding and reduce unnecessary hospitalizations. The aim of this study was to assess and compare the performance of existing prognostic scores in predicting therapeutic intervention and death. ⋯ The GBS and the modified GBS are the 2 best performing scores because they achieve both key objectives: stratifying patients based on their risk of therapeutic intervention and/or death and identifying low-risk patients who may qualify for outpatient management.
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Existing screening tools for sepsis in children are limited by suboptimal sensitivity. Our objective was to develop a new, more sensitive screening tool for pediatric septic shock by enhancing 2 aspects of the 4-point Liverpool quick Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (LqSOFA) tool. ⋯ The qPS4, with 2 enhancements to the LqSOFA, demonstrated overall improved sensitivity and specificity for pediatric septic shock.