The American journal of emergency medicine
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Optimal dosing of intravenous ketamine for procedural sedation in children in the ED-a randomized controlled trial.
The objective of the study is to compare need for redosing, sedation efficacy, duration, and adverse events between 3 commonly administered doses of parenteral ketamine in the emergency department (ED). ⋯ Adequate sedation was achieved with all 3 doses of ketamine. Higher doses did not increase the risk of adverse events or prolong sedation. Ketamine administered at 1.5 or 2.0mg/kg intravenous required less redosing and resulted in greater physician satisfaction.
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Multicenter Study
Suicide attempts presenting to trauma centers: trends across age groups using the National Trauma Data Bank.
This study sought to examine the epidemiology and mortality of violent suicide attempts presenting to trauma centers and to describe differences in male and female suicide attempters presenting to trauma centers by decade of age. ⋯ This study highlights the importance of examining the epidemiology of suicide attempts across sex and age. There are significant differences in rate of attempts, lethality of mechanism, and in-hospital mortality. Future studies should continue to investigate violent suicide attempts to design and implement effective treatment strategies targeted toward specific populations.
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The process of shared decision making (SDM) is an ethical imperative in the physician-patient relationship, especially in the emergency department (ED), where SDM can present unique challenges because patients and emergency physicians often have no established relationship and decisions about diagnosis, treatment, and disposition are time dependent. SDM should be guided by the ethical principles of autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and justice and the related principle of stewardship of finite resources. The objective of this article is to outline the ethical considerations of SDM in the ED in the context of diagnostic evaluations, therapeutic interventions, disposition decisions, and conflict resolution and to explore strategies for reaching decision consensus. ⋯ While respecting patient autonomy, emergency physicians also recognize the importance of the application of professional judgment to achieve the best possible outcome for patients. SDM as an ethical imperative in the context of ED disposition is especially important because of the frequent ambiguity of equipoise in these situations. Unique clinical situations such as pediatric patients or patients who lack decisional capacity merit special consideration.
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The correction of coagulopathy with fresh frozen plasma (FFP) is one of the main issues in the treatment of multiple-injured patients. Infectious and septic complications contribute to an adverse outcome in multiple-injured patients. Here, we investigated the role of FFP in the development of inflammatory complications given within the first 48 hours. ⋯ Treatment with FFP of bleeding patients with multiple injuries enhances the risk of SIRS, infection, and sepsis; however, a multifactorial genesis has to be postulated.
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Multicenter Study
Neurologic outcome of comatose survivors after hanging: a retrospective multicenter study.
The aim of this study is to identify the neurologic outcome of hanging patients and prognostic factors. ⋯ Even though cardiac arrest did not occur after hanging injuries, 7.5% of patients could not recover consciousness. Therapeutic hypothermia should be considered for such patients. If OHCA occurred after the hanging injury, the proportion of patients with good neurologic outcome was very low at 4.1%.