The American journal of emergency medicine
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Observational Study
Respiratory adjusted shock index for identifying occult shock and level of Care in Sepsis Patients.
Early identification of shock allows for timely resuscitation. Previous studies note the utility of bedside calculations such as the shock index (SI) and quick sepsis-related organ failure assessment (qSOFA) to detect occult shock. Respiratory rate may also be an important marker of occult shock. The goal of our study was to evaluate whether using a modified SI with respiratory rate would improve identification of emergency department sepsis patients admitted to an ICU or stepdown unit. ⋯ RASI may have utility as a rapid bedside tool for predicting critical illness in sepsis patients.
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Letter Observational Study
The feasibility of an inter-professional transitions of care service in an older adult population.
Older adults discharged from the Emergency Department (ED) are at high risk for medication interactions and side effects; examples of practice models addressing this transition of care are lacking. ⋯ A pharmacy and home health care transitions of care program was not feasible at an urban community ED. While the pharmacist team identified and managed multiple medication issues, most patients did not qualify due to prescriptions ineligible for delivery. Patients did not want pharmacist or home health nurse involvement in their post ED visit care, many due to loyalty to their community pharmacy. Multiple barriers must be addressed to create a successful inter-professional transition of care model.
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Coronary artery dilatation (CAD) is a great concern with Kawasaki disease (KD). This study aimed to investigate the relationship between serum N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) levels and CAD in patients with the hyperacute phase (≤4 days of fever) of KD. ⋯ Serum NT-proBNP might be an additional laboratory marker for detecting early CAD during the hyperacute phase of KD in the PED.
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The definition of myocardial infarction (MI) is based on the detection of high-sensitive cardiac troponin (hs-cTn) levels above the 99th percentile of upper reference limit (URL) value for a healthy reference population. In the era of hs-cTn assay and the 4th definition for MI, the distinction between the injury and infarction is crucial for the clinician. Measurable troponin is present in the blood of healthy adult subjects. ⋯ Professional societies have published their recommendations to solve the pre-analytic and analytic contraversies in hs-cTn assay. In conclusion, hs-cTn assays have revolutionized the practice of cardiology. Universal healthy normal pool and consideration of different cut off levels for different populations (i.e. elderly) can potentially help to standardize the interpretation of the hs-cTn test.