The American journal of emergency medicine
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Allergic reactions due to drug intake are responsible from an important amount of emergency admissions. Patients mostly complain of urticarial lesions. ⋯ Delays in reaching basic and advanced life support decrease chance of positive results of life support in anaphylactic shock victims. It is important to remember that any medication we usually prescribe in our daily practice for treatment of any disease has a potential to kill the patient.
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Face and/or neck burn (FNB) exposes patients to the double respiratory risk of obstruction and hypoxia, and these risks may require a tracheal intubation. This study aims to describe the incidence and the characteristics of difficult intubation in FNB patients. ⋯ This study underlines the high incidence of difficult intubation in FNB patients, greater than 11.2%, and demonstrates that intubation is more difficult when realized at a burn center, probably because it is performed later, allowing for development of cervical and laryngeal edema.
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Thoracic injury following a major trauma can be life threatening. Veno-venous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (vv-ECMO) can be used as a support to mechanical ventilation when acute respiratory distress syndrome is present. We report the case of an 18-year-old male driver who strayed from the road and fell 15 m into a backyard by landing on the roof of its car. ⋯ After 7 days, he was weaned from vv-ECMO and recovered in a rehabilitation facility. The use of vv-ECMO therapy in cases of major trauma has become a rescue strategy. The use of vv-ECMO was performed without anticoagulation because of his traumatic brain injury and severe spinal cord injury.
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A 17 year-old man presented to the emergency department with signs and symptoms of a peritonsillar abscess. His trismus was sopronounced that it was too difficult to drain the abscess under dynamic ultrasound guidance. It was suggested that localization of the abscess with ultrasound be used concurrently with video laryngoscopy. ⋯ The probe was then removed, and a needle attached to a syringe was used in its place. Drainage was facilitated using the video laryngoscope in the oral cavity. Seven milliliters of pus was removed, and the patient drastically improved after the procedure.
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Emergency department (ED) visits have continued to rise, and frequent ED users account for up to 8% of all ED visits. Reducing visits by frequent ED users may be one way to help reduce health care costs. We hypothesize that frequent users have unique ED utilization patterns resulting in differences in health care charges. ⋯ Frequent users have unique medical and social characteristics; however, disposition and visit charges did not differ from nonfrequent users.