The American journal of emergency medicine
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Multicenter Study
The relative contribution of provider and ED-level factors to variation among the top 15 reasons for ED admission.
We examine adult emergency department (ED) admission rates for the top 15 most frequently admitted conditions, and assess the relative contribution in admission rate variation attributable to the provider and hospital. ⋯ For different conditions, there were different contributions to variation at the hospital- and provider-level. These findings deserve consideration when designing interventions to optimize admission decisions and in value-based payment programs.
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A 36 year old male presented to the emergency department with severe epigastric pain, nausea, vomiting without hematemesis, diarrhea and anorexia. He presented with respiratory distress, shock and fever at the emergency. He was intubated and shifted to the intensive care unit with the diagnosis of acute pancreatitis with hypercalcemia and an elevated amylase and lipase's well as thrombocytopenia and elevated creatinine. ⋯ The typical presentation of multiple myeloma is anemia, back pain, and an elevated sedimentation rate. Patients with multiple myeloma have hypercalcemia but it's rarely manifested as acute pancreatitis. This case shows a rare presentation of multiple myeloma as acute pancreatitis in a younger adult.
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Appendicitis is a frequently encountered surgical problem in the Emergency Department (ED). Appendicitis typically results from obstruction of the appendiceal lumen, although trauma has been reported as an infrequent cause of acute appendicitis. Intestinal injury and hollow viscus injury following blunt abdominal trauma are well reported in the literature but traumatic appendicitis is much less common. ⋯ This case highlights a patient who developed acute appendicitis following blunt trauma to the abdomen sustained during a motor vehicle accident. Appendicitis must be considered as part of the differential diagnosis in any patient who presents to the ED with abdominal pain, including those whose pain begins after sustaining blunt trauma to the abdomen. Because appendicitis following trauma is uncommon, timely diagnosis requires a high index of suspicion.
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Migraine and subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) patients present to emergency departments with the similar symptoms as headache, nausea, and vomiting. This study investigated whether the neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) could distinguish patients with SAH from those with migraine. ⋯ In this retrospective analysis, NLR distinguished patients with SAH from those with migraine. Presence of SAH should be evaluated from discharged and readmitted patients (with headache symptoms) when an increase in NLR between initial and readmission levels is observed.
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A sacral insufficiency fracture (SIF) often manifests as low back pain or sciatica in the absence of any antecedent trauma. These fractures may be missed because of lack of appropriate imaging. The purpose of this study was to clarify the incidence and clinical features of SIF as well as the characteristic findings on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the lumbar spine. ⋯ This study demonstrates that accurate diagnosis of SIF may be delayed because of difficulties in detecting this type of fracture on plain X-ray and the non-specific nature of the presenting complaints. Emergency physicians should keep SIF in mind when investigating patients who complain of low back pain or gluteal pain. Findings at the second sacral segment on MRI targeting the lumbar spine may aid early diagnosis of this type of pelvic fracture.