The American journal of emergency medicine
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Kinesiotaping for isolated rib fractures in emergency department.
Rib fractures, which are among the most common injuries in blunt thoracic trauma, are usually encountered in Emergency Departments. Kinesiotape (KT) is a drug-free elastic therapeutic tape used for treating various musculoskeletal problems such as injury, dysfunction and pain. We aimed to investigate whether kinesotaping should be used safely and effectively in rib fractures in emergency setting. ⋯ This study investigated the use of kinesiotaping in emergency departments. When compared to NSAID therapy alone, combined kinesiotaping and NSAID therapy appears to be more effective in terms of pain reduction in rib fractures.
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Observational Study
High risk clinical characteristics for pyogenic spinal infection in acute neck or back pain: Prospective cohort study.
To identify clinical characteristics associated with pyogenic spinal infection among adults presenting to a community emergency department (ED) with neck or back pain. A secondary objective was to describe the frequency of these characteristics among patients with spinal epidural abscess (SEA). ⋯ Male sex, fever, and recent soft tissue infection or bacteremia were associated with pyogenic spinal infection in this prospective ED cohort.
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An emergency physician (EP) is often the first health care provider to evaluate, resuscitate, and manage a critically ill patient. In recent years, the annual hours of critical care delivered in emergency departments (EDs) across the United States increased more than 200% (Herring et al., 2013). In addition to seeing more critically ill patients, EPs are often tasked with providing critical care long beyond the initial resuscitation period. ⋯ This review summarizes important articles published in 2018 pertaining to the resuscitation and care of select critically ill patients. We chose these articles based on our opinion of the importance of the study findings and their application to clinical care in the ED. The following topics are covered: cardiac arrest, post-arrest care, septic shock, rapid sequence intubation, mechanical ventilation, fluid resuscitation, and metabolic acidosis.
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HELLP (hemolysis, elevated liver enzyme levels, low platelet counts)-syndrome is a rare but dramatic pregnancy-related illness. The difficult part of this syndrome is the lack of standardised diagnostic criterias and tests to be used to predict it. The aim of this study is determining the role of APRI score in the diagnosis of HELLP syndrome. ⋯ We concluded that the APRI score was robustly predicted HELLP syndrome than AST alone in this study. Further studies are needed to support our data with prospective, multicentre, larger patient groups.
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Caring for suicidal patients can be challenging, especially in emergency departments without easy access to mental health specialists. The American College of Emergency Physicians and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention appointed a working group to create an easy-to-use suicide prevention tool for ED providers. ⋯ The ICAR2E mnemonic may be a feasible way for practicing ED clinicians to provide evidence-based care to suicidal patients. However, further research is needed.