Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
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Comparative Study
Calcium and digoxin vs. calcium alone for severe verapamil toxicity.
Calcium chloride (CaCl(2)) is ineffective in severe calcium channel antagonist overdoses. Digoxin increases intracellular calcium by inhibiting the sodium-potassium adenosine triphosphatase enzymes. ⋯ In a model of severe verapamil toxicity, digoxin plus calcium raised SBP and did not result in ventricular arrhythmias when compared with calcium alone.
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Cutaneous wound healing in adults invariably results in scarring; however, there are few scales to quantify the degree of such scarring. The authors developed a histomorphologic scale for quantifying scarring after cutaneous burn injury. ⋯ A new reliable histomorphologic method for quantifying and scoring cutaneous scars is described together with a reliable scar VAS. However, these two scales are not highly correlated.
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To determine the accuracy of POCT quality control testing of an ED maintained ABG Analyzer (Gem Premier)-Instrumentation Laboratory). ⋯ ED attendings are capable of quality control maintenance of an ABG analyzer as a POCT device under the quality control testing parameters set forth by the College of American Pathologists.
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To determine a minimum percentage of patients transported by ALS for difficulty breathing who could potentially benefit from a pre-hospital trial of CPAP. ⋯ Using very strict criteria, a small but not significant percentage of patients are optimal candidates for a prehospital trial of CPAP. Transport times would appear to justify this type of intervention. A prospective study is currently under way to test the feasibility of administering CPAP to such patients in the prehospital setting.
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To assess perceptions of emergency medicine (EM) program directors (PDs) of the resident selection process. ⋯ Applicants who interview in >1 specialty are viewed negatively by PDs. Post-interview communications by applicants are viewed with skepticism. Gamesmanship is practiced commonly during the resident selection process.