The American journal of emergency medicine
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The COVID-19 pandemic was managed in part by the rapid development of vaccines, diagnostics, and therapeutics including antiviral agents and advances in emergency airway and ventilatory management. The impact of these therapeutic advances on clinically pertinent metrics of emergency care have not been well-studied. ⋯ Operational and clinical outcomes of ED-based treatment of individuals with COVID-19 improved in the first two years of the pandemic. This improvement is likely multifactorial and includes the development and deployment of SARS-CoV-2-specific vaccines, therapeutic agents, and improved healthcare delivery in the ED and elsewhere addressing management of airway and ventilatory status, as well as increased innate immunity in the general population.
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The recreational use of psilocybin or psilocin-containing products, a chemical found naturally in certain mushroom species, is on the rise across the United States. Several cases of serious clinical effects related to mushroom-containing products have recently been reported to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The emergence of these new products and their health consequences are not yet well understood. This case series aims to characterize exposures to mushroom-containing chocolate products, including patient characteristics, clinical effects, treatment(s), and clinical outcome severity, reported to a poison center network. ⋯ While most patients in this series experienced minor clinical effects, some developed serious effects after ingestion of a mushroom-containing chocolate product. Findings from this study further characterize the limited patient demographics, clinical effects, and outcomes published thus far. Further characterization in a larger cohort of patients could expand on our initial findings and is needed to better identify factors that may influence clinical outcomes.
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The aim of this study is to evaluate gender perception among patients in the emergency department (ED) and to examine the effect of gender perception on patients' preference of physician's gender. ⋯ In the context of emergency settings and general examinations, approximately three-quarters of the participants indicated no preference regarding the gender of the physician. However, in the case of sensitive medical issues, the proportion of participants with no gender preference was less than half. For patients with a gender preference for their physician, perception of gender is a significant predictor.