Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
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To determine the impact of emergency medicine (EM) faculty presence and an airway management protocol on success rates of tracheal intubation in the emergency department (ED). ⋯ First-attempt intubation success rates and decreased mean time to successful intubation improved following EM faculty presence and the introduction of an airway management protocol.
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Patients with diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) hyperventilate, lowering their alveolar (PACO(2)) and arterial carbon dioxide (PaCO(2)). This ventilatory response lessens the severity of their acidemia in a predictable way. Because end-tidal CO(2) (ETCO(2)) closely approximates PaCO(2), measured ETCO(2) levels should allow for predictions about the presence and severity of acidosis in diabetic patients. ⋯ End-tidal CO(2) is linearly related to HCO(3) and is significantly lower in children with DKA. If confirmed by larger trials, cut-points of 29 torr and 36 torr, in conjunction with clinical assessment, may help discriminate between patients with and without DKA, respectively.
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To assess and compare overall satisfaction in pediatric emergency department (ED) patients and their accompanying parents. To identify aspects of health care delivery that influence satisfaction in these groups. ⋯ Satisfaction can be validly and reliably measured in pediatric patients using a visual scale instrument. Factors that influence patient satisfaction were similar among both children and their parents. The influence of pain resolution on pediatric ED satisfaction is a novel finding, which demonstrates the importance of appropriate pain and anxiety assessment and treatment in children.
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Droperidol (DROP) is used in the emergency department (ED) for sedation, analgesia, and its antiemetic effect. Its ED safety profile has not yet been reported in patients (pts). ⋯ The vast majority of pts who received DROP in the ED did not experience an AE. A few serious AEs were noted following DROP in patients with serious comorbidities; it is not clear that DROP was causative.