The American journal of emergency medicine
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study
A randomized, placebo-controlled trial of ondansetron, metoclopramide, and promethazine in adults.
The objective of the study was to assess whether ondansetron has superior nausea reduction compared with metoclopramide, promethazine, or saline placebo in emergency department (ED) adults. ⋯ Our study shows no evidence that ondansetron is superior to metoclopramide and promethazine in reducing nausea in ED adults. Early study termination may have limited detection of ondansetron's superior nausea reduction over saline.
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Acute epiglottitis is a true airway emergency in the emergency department (ED). The patient may appear very toxic and rapidly progress to respiratory distress and life-threatening condition. The inflammatory process includes not only epiglottis but also the rest of the supraglottic area including the vallecula, aryepiglottic folds, and arytenoids. ⋯ However, before the patients are well prepared, the clinical condition may critically go downhill; and any intention to visualize the throat can result in severe and fatal airway spasm. Thumbprint sign on lateral radiography of neck is typical, but it may be extremely risky to let a patient leave the consulting room for the study if respiratory distress has developed. We demonstrate a safe and practical way to investigate the epiglottis by bedside ultrasonography to visualize the "alphabet P sign" in a longitudinal view through thyrohyoid membrane by emergency physician in the ED.
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Nonurgent visits to emergency departments (ED) are a controversial issue; they have been negatively associated with crowding and costs. We have conducted a critical review of the literature regarding methods for categorizing ED visits into urgent or nonurgent and analyzed the proportions of nonurgent ED visits. We found 51 methods of categorization. ⋯ The proportions of nonurgent ED visits varied considerably: 4.8% to 90%, with a median of 32%. Comparisons of methods of categorization in the same population showed variability in levels of agreement. Our review has highlighted the lack of reliability and reproducibility.
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Case Reports
The double lung point: an unusual sonographic sign of juvenile spontaneous pneumothorax.
Lung ultrasound is extremely useful in the bedside diagnosis of pneumothorax. The lung point, which is the sonographic demonstration of the point on the chest wall where the pleural layers adhere again, represents the limit of the pneumothorax extension and allows estimation of its volume. This sonographic sign is not only highly accurate in ruling-in pneumothorax but also helps the clinician in deciding whether to place a chest tube. ⋯ The double lung point is explained by the fact that the air is not free in the pleural space but forms a bulla surrounded by adherent pleural layers. In this case, the ultrasound examination could be confounding and the clinician should be aware of it. This phenomenon is quite rare in the juvenile spontaneous pneumothorax, being more frequent in case of secondary pneumothorax.