The American journal of emergency medicine
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Letter Randomized Controlled Trial
Time to successful completion of simulated pediatric lumbar puncture in lateral vs seated position: Comparison in novice providers.
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Peri-mortem caesarean section (PMCS) is a very rare procedure performed to improve the chances of survival for both mother and fetus following cardiorespiratory arrest. Non-obstetricians including Emergency Physicians (EPs) are often called upon to perform this procedure under challenging and suboptimal circumstances. We reported a case of PMCS performed timely after traumatic cardiorespiratory arrest that resulted in fetal survival. ⋯ She survived and is currently one year old. The mother, however, did not respond to our resuscitation and succumbed to her multiple injuries. We reviewed the limited literature regarding this potentially life-saving emergency procedure and highlighted the challenges facing our resuscitation team.
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Observational Study
Hypertensive ED patients: Missed opportunities for addressing hypertension and facilitating outpatient follow-up.
Hypertension is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality. The emergency department (ED) frequently serves populations with unmet health needs and could have a greater and more systematic role in secondary prevention for hypertension. This study sought to determine, among hypertensive patients discharged from the ED, the frequency that patients 1) received hypertension-specific education, and 2) followed-up with a primary care provider. We secondarily assessed participant beliefs about hypertension. ⋯ Over half of markedly hypertensive patients discharged from the ED followed up with primary care within four weeks. Nonetheless, missed opportunities for improved secondary prevention among ED patients with hypertension are common. There is an urgent need for evidence-based interventions to assist emergency departments in addressing this health threat.
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Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a common presentation to the emergency department (ED) and has high mortality rates. The aim of our study is to investigate the risk stratification and prognostic prediction value of precalcitonin (PCT) and clinical severity scores on patients with CAP in ED. ⋯ Serum PCT is a valuable single predictor for SCAP. SOFA is superior in prediction of 28-day mortality. Combination of PCT and SOFA could improve the performance of single predictors. More further studies with larger sample size are warranted to validate our results.
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Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) for traumatized patients in the field portends poor survival but the outcome of trauma patients who arrive in-extremis and undergo CPR shortly after arrival has not been well studied. The purpose of our review is to evaluate survival to discharge for trauma patients with CPR from 1 to 120 minutes (min) after arrival. ⋯ Trauma patients who undergo CPR shortly after arrival have a survival rate of (4.3%-36.4%). Over one-third of blunt and penetrating injuries and low ISS who had CPR from 61 to 120 min after arrival survived. Trauma patients who arrest shortly after arrival warrant an aggressive approach.