Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
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Multicenter Study Clinical Trial
Children with first-time simple febrile seizures are at low risk of serious bacterial illness.
To describe the rates of serious bacterial illness (SBI) in children presenting to emergency departments (EDs) with first-time uncomplicated febrile seizures. ⋯ Rates of SBI in this multi-institution population of children with first-time simple febrile seizures were low and are consistent with those published in the literature for febrile children without seizures.
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Comparative Study
Effects of biphasic vs monophasic defibrillation on the scaling exponent in a swine model of prolonged ventricular fibrillation.
Mathematical analyses of ventricular fibrillation (VF) have resulted in the derivation of a measure termed the scaling exponent (ScE) that characterizes the duration of VF and probability of defibrillation success. The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of biphasic defibrillation waveform (BDW) and monophasic defibrillation waveform (MDW) rescue shocks on ScE in a swine model of prolonged VF. ⋯ Mode of defibrillation waveform (BDW vs MDW) does not appear to impact ScE trends. Additional studies must be performed to better evaluate the clinical implications of this finding.
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Recent changes by the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) have resulted in decreased Medicare support for emergency medicine (EM) residencies. ⋯ Nearly all EM programs are fully supported by their institutions, including the fourth postgraduate year. Most programs take residents with previous training. Although few programs have reduced their size, many are discussing this. Many programs have had difficulty with funding off-service rotations and many have had decreased numbers of off-service residents in their EDs. Recent GME funding changes have had adverse effects on EM residency programs.