Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
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To test the hypothesis that arterial blood gas (ABG) results for patients with suspected diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) do not influence emergency physicians' management decisions and to assess correlation and precision between venous pH and arterial pH. ⋯ ABG results rarely influenced emergency physicians' decisions on diagnosis, treatment, or disposition in suspected DKA patients. Venous pH correlated well and was precise enough with arterial pH to serve as a substitute.
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Comparative Study
Comparative analysis of adult versus adolescent sexual assault: epidemiology and patterns of anogenital injury.
To compare the characteristics of sexual assault in pubertal girls (<18 years old) and adults in a community-based population of women presenting to an urban sexual assault clinic. ⋯ Of women presenting to an urban sexual assault clinic, 43% were adolescents. The epidemiology of sexual trauma and the pattern of anogenital trauma in this age group are unique and may pose special challenges to emergency health care providers.
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Multicenter Study
Interrater reliability of criteria used in assessing blunt head injury patients for intracranial injuries.
To determine the interrater reliability of potential predictor variables that may be used to construct a clinical decision rule for emergency computed tomography of the head in blunt head injury victims. ⋯ The clinicians in our study had a substantial level of agreement regarding most clinical criteria assessed in this large sample of patients with blunt head injury.
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To evaluate simultaneously several possible risk factors for blood bank specimen hemolysis. ⋯ Blood bank specimens drawn from Vialon IV catheters (particularly smaller gauge catheters) and from veins outside the antecubital area are at significantly increased risk to hemolyze.
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Determination of the presence of an abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is essential in the management of the symptomatic emergency department (ED) patient. ⋯ EUS-AA in a symptomatic population for AAA is sensitive and specific. These data suggest that the presence of AAA on EUS-AA should guide urgent consultation. Emergency physicians were able to exclude AAA regardless of disposition from the ED.