The American journal of emergency medicine
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Because of severe emergency department (ED) overcrowding, the authors initiated a program of referring certain patients who were assessed as not needing emergency care away from the ED. A selected group of patients who presented to a busy university ED were refused treatment and triaged away following a medical screening examination performed by a nurse. In this 3-year study 136,794 patients presented to the triage area in the ED, of which 21,069 (15%) were refused care and referred elsewhere. ⋯ Responses from this survey indicated that 42% of persons received care elsewhere the same day, 37% within 2 days, and 22% decided not to seek medical care. A group of 1.6% sought care at other hospital EDs for minor complaints. The authors concluded that a group of patients can be selectively triaged out of the ED without significant adverse outcomes, which may offer one approach to the problem of ED overcrowding.
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The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a protocol for the outpatient management of laryngotracheitis (croup) using racemic epinephrine and steroids. The authors retrospectively reviewed fifty consecutive charts of children with croup who were treated under this protocol in the Scottish Rite Children's Medical Center Emergency Department (Atlanta, GA) and discharged to home after 2 hours of observation. Forty-seven of the 50 children had stridor at rest and/or retracting at rest on presentation to the emergency department. ⋯ One patient required another emergency visit and additional treatment with racemic epinephrine. Two patients were lost to follow-up. This study suggests that selected children presenting with croup and significant distress may be effectively treated with racemic epinephrine and steroids, observed for at least 2 hours, and safely discharged home.
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This study evaluates the cardiac and neurologic risks associated with the antagonization of the benzodiazepine component of mixed drug overdoses, when cyclic antidepressants are also implicated. Twenty-four mongrel dogs were anesthetized and ventilated. Electroencephalogram, electrocardiogram, and tidal carbon dioxide and arterial pressure were continuously recorded. ⋯ The mechanism of this effect remains unclear, as it could be unrelated to the antagonization of midazolam sedation. Given the problem of extrapolating animal data to humans, these results suggest that bolus administration of high doses of flumazenil in mixed intoxication implicating benzodiazepine and cyclic antidepressants has the potential to precipitate convulsions and/or arrhythmias. A slowly titrated administration of the antidote, as usually recommended, could prevent these effects.