The American journal of emergency medicine
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To determine if patient demographic data, medical history, physical examination, and laboratory tests will help predict likelihood of imaging-based diagnosis using CT of the neck performed in the ED for a chief complaint of throat pain. ⋯ Consideration of tonsillar abnormalities, lymphadenopathy, body temperature, and measured leukocyte count prior to ordering CT scans of the neck for throat pain may increase the diagnostic yield of such exams and decrease CT utilization in the ED.
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We sought to determine the impact of the presence of a pharmacist on medication and patient related outcomes during the emergency management of critically ill patients requiring resuscitation or medical emergency response team care in a hospital setting. ⋯ The results of this systematic review provide support for a beneficial impact of a pharmacist presence and intervention during resuscitation or medical emergency response team care, with significant improvements in outcomes such as time to initiation of time-critical medications, medication appropriateness and guideline compliance. However, studies were predominantly small and retrospective and were not powered to detect differences in patient related measures such as length of stay and mortality. Future research should investigate the clinical impacts of the pharmacist in ED resuscitation settings in controlled, prospective studies with robust sampling methods.
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Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) is a rare but serious condition that carries with it a high rate of morbidity and mortality. ⋯ An understanding of GBS can assist emergency clinicians in diagnosing and managing this potentially deadly disease.