Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
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To define in centimeters what constitutes mild, moderate, and severe acute pain in children by using the Color Analogue Scale (CAS) for pain. ⋯ This study quantifies what constitutes mild, moderate, and severe pain on the CAS scale. This information should be used to properly triage children with painful conditions and to identify appropriate patients for enrollment in analgesic studies.
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To examine presentations and prevalence of head injury among elder victims of blunt trauma and to estimate the prevalence of occult injuries associated with a normal level of consciousness, absence of neurologic deficit, and no evidence of significant skull fracture. ⋯ Elder patients with head trauma are at higher risk of developing a significant intracranial injury, including subdural and epidural hematoma. An occult presentation is also more common in elders.
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To examine the patterns of antibiotic use for acute respiratory tract infections (ARIs) in acute care settings. ⋯ Acute care settings are important targets for reducing inappropriate antibiotic prescribing. The mechanisms accounting for lower antibiotic prescription rates observed with housestaff-associated visits merit further study.
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Accurate and precise interpretations of Focused Assessment with Sonography for Trauma (FAST) findings are important factors in managing trauma patients. The objectives were to analyze the influence of anechoic stripe (AS) size on interpretation accuracy by emergency physicians (EPs) and to assess the precision of FAST examination interpretation as a function of EP FAST experience. ⋯ AS size visible on FAST examinations and EP experience level with FAST examination interpretation exerted a significant influence on the interpretation accuracy of videotaped FAST examinations. In addition, precision was enhanced by increased EP experience with FAST.
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To describe the frequency of depression among emergency medicine (EM) residents by month, gender, rotation type, postgraduate year (PGY), and number of hours worked. ⋯ Season, number of hours worked, rotation type, PGY, and gender all failed to predict depression among EM residents in this single-center trial. The prevalence of depression was comparable to that of the general population.