The American journal of emergency medicine
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An analysis was undertaken of 8,470 visits to a pediatric emergency department (ED) over a three-month period during 1975-76. The ED was busiest in the evening and on weekends. Visits were overwhelmingly for acute conditions, which varied seasonally. ⋯ The authors conclude that the documented ED usage patterns reflect the conditions of the children seen (age, medical problems, and severity of illness) and diminished availability of other services on weekends and evening. This indicates reasonable utilization of medical services and suggests the need for non-ED sources of care at times of peak ED use. These ED usage patterns in the 1970s are similar to those described in the 1960s, and together with the earlier data they provide a basis for comparison of utilization patterns during the current period of rapidly changing health-service reimbursement schemes.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Pre-hospital IAC-CPR versus standard CPR: paramedic resuscitation of cardiac arrests.
Recent studies evaluating interposed abdominal compression cardiopulmonary resuscitation (IAC-CPR) have demonstrated a significant increase in cardiac output, mean arterial pressure, and cerebral perfusion, as compared with standard CPR. A clinical evaluation of IAC-CPR effectiveness on resuscitation outcome has not been reported. A prospective randomized study comparing IAC-CRP with standard CPR for resuscitation of prehospital cardiopulmonary arrest was undertaken using the Milwaukee County Paramedic System. ⋯ To determine whether abdominal compression increases regurgitation, the frequency of emesis before and after intubation was analyzed. No significant difference was found between the IAC-CPR and standard CPR groups. Thus, IAC-CPR applied by paramedics in the field to patients following intubation does not improve cardiac resuscitation rates.
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Presently, there is no reliable noninvasive method of assessing the adequacy of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Studies of animals have shown that during prolonged arrest the coronary perfusion pressure (CPP) is correlated with successful resuscitation. During previous studies it appeared that expired PCO2 correlated with CPP. ⋯ A correlation coefficient of 0.78 was calculated based on 368 data points for eight dogs (P less than 0.01). The results of this study indicate that expired PCO2 is positively correlated with CPP in the canine model of CPR. Inasmuch as CPP correlates with survival in prolonged CPR, the noninvasive measurement of PCO2 may be a useful method of assessing the adequacy of CPR.
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This study was undertaken to characterize blood gas, pH, and lactate changes during and after cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in arterial and venous samples. Blood samples were withdrawn from the brachial artery, aortic arch, pulmonary artery, coronary sinus, and either the right or left cardiac ventricle of 24 anesthetized dogs. Ventricular fibrillation (VF) was induced electrically, and mechanical CPR was begun. ⋯ Lactate increased to 32 mg/dl during 9 minutes of CPR and did not significantly differ after defibrillation. Blood gases and pH returned to control values within an hour. This study suggests that arterial blood gases are sensitive to rapid changes occurring in the pulmonary capillary bed, while venous blood gases reflect changes occurring in the systemic capillary bed.