The American journal of emergency medicine
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Comparison of dynamic versus static ultrasound to confirm endotracheal tube depth.
After endotracheal intubation is performed, the location of the endotracheal tube (ETT) is confirmed followed by assessment of ETT depth. Physical examination can be unreliable and chest radiographs can lead to delayed recognition. Ultrasound may facilitate rapid determination of ETT depth at the bedside; however, the ideal technique is unknown. ⋯ There was no statistically significant difference in the accuracy of ETT depth identification between the static or dynamic technique. However, utilizing the dynamic technique showed a statistically significant improvement in sonographer confidence and a concomitant increase in time to identification.
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Children with foreign bodies are often transferred from general emergency departments (EDs) to children's hospitals for optimal management. Our objective was to describe the outcomes of interhospital pediatric foreign body transfers and examine factors associated with potentially avoidable transfers (PATs) in this cohort. ⋯ PATs are relatively common among children transferred to a children's hospital for foreign bodies. Factors associated with PATs have been identified and may represent targets for interventions to avoid low value pediatric foreign body transfers.
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Recognition of stroke by Emergency Medical Services (EMS) is critical to initiate rapid emergency department treatment. Most prehospital stroke screening tools rely heavily on presentation with the classic symptoms of facial droop, speech changes, unilateral weakness. However, women may be less likely to present with classic symptoms and may also have different distributions of stroke by anatomical location. This study seeks to determine the association between biological sex, presentation with classic symptoms, and the location of the infarcted tissue. ⋯ This study found no difference in the frequency of patient presentation with classic stroke symptoms based on biological sex alone, nor a significant different in distribution of infarcts between males and females. Infarct location (i.e., involving the anterior circulation) was associated with a classic presentation. This suggests that the likelihood of presenting with classic stroke symptoms is not influenced by sex, but rather the location of the infarct.