The American journal of emergency medicine
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Review
Osteopathic manipulation and its applicability in the emergency department: A narrative review.
Osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT), also known as osteopathic manipulative medicine (OMM), is a set of manual techniques, developed by Dr. Andrew Taylor Still, founder of osteopathic medicine, initially limited to osteopathic medicine, for the treatment of painful conditions. This toolset is now used by allopathic physicians, international osteopaths, physical therapists, chiropractors, and other healthcare workers for the treatment of musculoskeletal pain. OMT can be used in the emergency department (ED) for the treatment of musculoskeletal complaints as an adjunct to pharmacologic agents (e.g., NSAIDs), or an alternative to opioids. ⋯ OMT is being used and has great potential in the management of acute and chronic musculoskeletal pain in the ED in addition to, or instead of pharmacologic agents, in particular as an opioid-sparing option.
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The standard of care for congestive heart failure (CHF) aims to slow disease progression and maximize patient function, however there is an increase in emergency department (ED) revisits and readmissions. Social risk factors play a role in the disease management and prognosis of CHF. There is a gap in the identification of low-risk CHF patient who would be safely discharged using an initial social risk factor stratification. ⋯ This study suggests establishing a social risk profile for patients presenting to the ED with CHF can help formulate a CHF-specific care plan and optimize multidisciplinary management to reduce ED revisits and readmissions.
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A bowel diameter threshold of ≥2.5 cm, originally derived from the research using computed tomography, is frequently used for diagnosing small bowel obstruction (SBO) with point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS). We sought to determine the optimal bowel diameter threshold for diagnosing SBO using POCUS and its accuracy in predicting surgical intervention. ⋯ A bowel diameter threshold of 2.75 cm on POCUS is more discriminative diagnostic accuracy for diagnosing SBO. Patients' age and sex may impact diagnostic accuracy, suggesting that tailored approaches may be needed.
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Current protocols which include the administration of a single dextrose dose concomitantly with insulin are inadequate as hypoglycemia commonly occurs 60 min after insulin administration and may persist for up to two hours post-insulin administration. To prevent delayed hypoglycemic events, our institution revised our adult acute hyperkalemia order set to include hypoglycemic preventative measures not currently described in the literature. ⋯ Our study found that our approach of additionally administering a 250 mL dextrose 10% solution upon therapy initiation is associated with significantly lower rates of hypoglycemia. Our findings indicate that hypoglycemia rates can be significantly reduced in vulnerable populations if additional preventative measures are employed.