The American journal of emergency medicine
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Primary disasters may result in mass casualty events with serious injuries, including crush injury and crush syndrome. ⋯ Crush injury and crush syndrome are common in natural and human-made disasters. Emergency clinicians must understand the pathophysiology, evaluation, and management of these conditions to optimize patient care.
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Alcohol Withdrawal Syndrome (AWS) among patients with chronic and heavy alcohol consumption can range from mild to severe and is associated with high morbidity and mortality. Currently, treating AWS with benzodiazepines is the standard of care, but phenobarbital has also been hypothesized to be an effective first-line treatment due to its pharmacological properties and mechanism of action. We conducted a meta-analysis to review relevant literature and compare the clinical outcomes for patients diagnosed with AWS in ED and ICU settings. ⋯ Management of patients with AWS with phenobarbital is associated with similar rates of intubation, length of stay in the ICU, or length of stay in the hospital as treatment with benzodiazepines. However, due to the inclusion of mostly observational studies and a significant level of heterogeneity among the studies assessed in this review, additional trials with strong methodology are needed.
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Thyroid storm is a rare but serious condition that carries a high rate of morbidity and even mortality. ⋯ An understanding of thyroid storm can assist emergency clinicians in diagnosing and managing this potentially deadly disease.
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The purpose of this article is to summarize pharmacotherapy related emergency medicine (EM) literature indexed in 2022. Articles were selected utilizing a modified Delphi approach. ⋯ Pharmacotherapy-related publications deemed to be GRADE 1A and 1B were reviewed by the group for inclusion in the review. In all, this article summarizes and provides commentary on the potential clinical impact of 13 articles, 4 guidelines, and 3 meta-analyses covering topics including anticoagulant reversal, tenecteplase in acute ischemic stroke, guideline updates for heart failure and aortic aneurysm, magnesium in atrial fibrillation, sedation in mechanically ventilated patients and pain management strategies in the Emergency Department (ED), and tranexamic acid use in epistaxis and GI bleed.