The American journal of emergency medicine
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Medication reconciliation is a Joint Commission for the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations requirement to reduce medication errors. This study evaluated the reliability of patient-completed medication reconciliation forms (MRs) compared with pharmacy-generated lists and determined if there was a difference in concordance when patients completed the forms from memory compared with when they brought a separate list or pill bottles. ⋯ Thirty-six percent of patients were able to provide a medication list that matched their pharmacy-prescribed drugs. More errors were noted from patients taking more medications and from those completing their MR from a separate list.
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Case Reports
Cardiotoxicity associated with the synthetic cannabinoid, K9, with laboratory confirmation.
Synthetic cannabinoids have been popular recreational drugs of abuse for their psychoactive properties. Five of the many synthetic cannabinoids have been recently banned in the United States because of their unknown and potentially harmful adverse effects. Little is known about these substances. ⋯ Two synthetic cannabinoids, JWH-018 and JWH-073, were confirmed on laboratory analysis. In addition to the limited current data, we demonstrate harmful adverse effects related to toxicity of 2 synthetic cannabinoids. Further studies are needed.
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The purpose of our study was to evaluate interobserver variability between the radiologist and emergency physician in detecting blunt liver trauma by conventional and contrast-enhanced ultrasound (US) (CEUS). ⋯ Contrast-enhanced US may permit a more accurate diagnosis for liver trauma than conventional US by both the radiologist and emergency physician. Contrast-enhanced US may also reduce interobserver variability for this diagnosis.
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Case Reports
Supraventricular tachycardia induced by chocolate: is chocolate too sweet for the heart?
Conflicting studies have been published concerning the association between chocolate and cardiovascular diseases. Fewer articles have described the potential arrhythmogenic risk related to chocolate intake. We present a case of paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia in a woman after consumption of large quantity of chocolate. ⋯ Our case very well describes an episode of tachycardia precipitated by large amount of chocolate consumption in a patient with underlying substrate. There are occasional case reports describing association between chocolate, caffeine, and arrhythmias. A large Danish study, however, did not find any association between amount of daily caffeine consumption and risk of arrhythmia.