The American journal of emergency medicine
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Multicenter Study
Life-threatening foreign body airway obstruction: Case series and new classification proposal.
Foreign body airway obstruction (FBAO) is a common medical emergency; however, few studies of life-threatening FBAO have been reported and no standard classification system is available. ⋯ The majority of patients with life-threatening FBAO were elderly and had poor neurological outcomes. Our new classification system divides FBAO into three types, and revealed that mortality was significantly higher with type 2 than type 1 obstruction. This classification system may improve the management of patients with FBAO and assessment of patient outcomes.
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Multicenter Study
Prehospital quick sequential organ failure assessment score to predict in-hospital mortality among patients with trauma.
The quick sequential organ failure assessment (qSOFA) score is calculated from three variables measured at the scene of trauma-systolic blood pressure, respiratory rate and consciousness. This study aimed to evaluate the discriminative ability of the prehospital qSOFA score for in-hospital mortality in patients with trauma. ⋯ The prehospital qSOFA score was strongly associated with in-hospital mortality in patients with trauma. A prehospital qSOFA score cutoff of ≥1 can be used to identify patients at a very low risk of death, especially in younger age groups.
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Most patients present with seizures to pediatric emergency department (PED) are observed for extended periods for the risk of possible acute recurrence. ⋯ Risk factors for acute recurrence should be evaluated for each patient. Patients without risk factors and no seizures during the first 6 h should not be observed for extended periods in PED.
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The ability to identify wall motion abnormalities may be useful for emergency clinicians, but is not typically evaluated in point-of-care echocardiograms. We sought to determine if emergency physicians with basic training in emergency echocardiography could identify regional wall motion abnormalities (RWMA) in patients admitted with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). ⋯ Emergency physicians with core training in point-of-care echocardiography can accurately identify RMWA.