The American journal of emergency medicine
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study
Handheld ultrasound versus standard machines for placement of peripheral IV catheters: A randomized, non-inferiority study.
Ultrasound guided IV catheter (USGIV) access occurs frequently in Emergency Departments (EDs). This task is often performed using large, expensive, cart-based ultrasound systems (CBUS) which are frequently needed for other ED ultrasound functions and can be cumbersome to use and store. Handheld ultrasounds (HHUs) may be able to meet this need, but it is unknown if they function interchangeably with CBUS for USGIV placement. We performed a prospective, randomized, noninferiority study to compare the success rate of HHUs to CBUSs for placing USGIVs. ⋯ HHU was noninferior to CBUS for successful USGIV placement. There was no difference in the rate of first attempt success at placement or USGIV survival to a patient's ED disposition between groups. No significant additional training was required for ED providers of all levels to use the HHUs.
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Due to the difficulty in making the decision to discontinue resuscitation efforts, clinicians often perform prolonged cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in children who have drowned. This study investigated the relationship between out-of-hospital CPR duration and neurological outcomes in children with drowning-induced cardiac arrest. ⋯ Prehospital EMS-initiated CPR duration for children with drowning-induced cardiac arrest was inversely associated with one-month favorable neurological outcomes. Favorable neurological outcomes after >33 min of out-of-hospital CPR were extremely rare, though accurately predicting the outcome remains challenging.