The American journal of emergency medicine
-
Emergency physicians face the challenge of rapidly identifying high-risk trauma patients. Lactate (LAC) is widely used as a surrogate of tissue hypoperfusion. However, clinically important values for LAC as a predictor of mortality are not well defined.
-
Case Reports
An incidental image of a patient with chest pain after fall from a tree: Swyer-James-MacLeod syndrome?
Unilateral hyperlucent lung was firstly described by Swyer and James 1950s. After that, some patients with same disease were detected by Macleod. Then this syndrome was named as Swyer- James-Macleod syndrome (SJMS), and this syndrome includes a smaller or normal sized unilateral hyperlucent lung. ⋯ In his computed tomography no rib fracture, pneumothorax and hemothorax. But an abnormal image (5.5 cm hyperlucent area) was seen in his left lung. This report aims to present one of incidentally diagnosed rare case of SJMS.
-
Patients newly insured through coverage expansion under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) may have difficulty obtaining timely primary care follow-up appointments after emergency department (ED) discharge. We evaluated the association between availability of timely follow-up appointment with practice access improvements, including patient-centered medical home (PCMH) designations or extended-hours appointments. ⋯ PCMH designation and extended-hours appointments were not associated with improved availability of timely primary care follow-up appointment for discharged ED patients. EDs should engage local clinicians and other stakeholders to strengthen linkage and care transition with outpatient practices.
-
This case is significant to the practice of emergency medicine because it represents the development of an uncommon and potentially fatal mediastinal infection from a commonly encountered and appropriately treated community respiratory pathogen. Most published reports on mediastinitis are those that are status-post cardiothoracic surgery. In our report, we discuss a case of a healthy, young individual who developed this morbid entity from extension of a simple respiratory infection where Group C Streptococcus has been isolated as the causative organism, which to our knowledge has not been previously reported. Further, this report outlines how a community acquired pneumonia progressed to a life threatening illness despite proper initial treatment per local and national guidelines.
-
We evaluated the effectiveness of point-of-care wrist ultrasonography compared with 3T-magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for diagnosing triangular fibrocartilage complex (TFCC) injuries in trauma patients with ulnar-sided pain and instability. Moreover, we assessed the inter-observer variability between an emergency physician and a musculoskeletal radiology fellow. ⋯ Point-of-care wrist ultrasonography is as precise as MRI for detecting TFCC injuries, and can be used for immediate diagnosis and further preoperative imaging. Moreover, it may shorten the interval from emergency department admission to surgical intervention while reducing costs.