Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
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Socioeconomic status (SES) has been linked to heart disease, but its influence on outcome from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is not well understood. ⋯ An individual-level, but not an area-level, measure of SES predicted survival following OHCA independent of demographic, circumstance, or care factors. Future research should continue to investigate mechanisms through which SES is associated with OHCA survival.
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Low-risk emergency department (ED) patients with chest pain (CP) are often transported by nurses to monitored beds on telemetry monitoring, diverting valuable resources from the ED and delaying transport. ⋯ Transportation of low-risk ED chest pain patients off telemetry monitoring by nonclinical personnel to the floor appears safe. This may reduce diversion of ED nurses from the ED, helping to alleviate nursing shortages.
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Comparative Study
Reappraisal of criteria used to predict serious bacterial illness in febrile infants less than 8 weeks of age.
To re-evaluate the Philadelphia protocol and the Rochester criteria for identifying infants at low risk for serious bacterial illness (SBI) in a new population. ⋯ The Philadelphia protocol and the Rochester criteria maintained their previously reported NPVs when applied to a new population of febrile infants. These data illustrate the usefulness of retesting clinical decision rules in new populations prior to their universal acceptance.
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To evaluate the evidence for interventions designed to improve outcomes for elders discharged from the emergency department (ED). ⋯ A significant number of programs to improve outcomes for elders discharged from the ED exist, but few have been systematically examined. Development of interventions to improve the care of elder patients following ED visits requires further research into system and patient-centered factors that impact health care delivery in this situation.