Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
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In September 2006, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended routine (nontargeted) human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) screening for all patients in the emergency department (ED). Although the American College of Emergency Physicians has endorsed these recommendations, the College expressed concern that that their adoption may lead to an increase in the length of stay (LOS) for ED patients. This study therefore analyzed the effect of nontargeted HIV screening on LOS in a cohort of ED patients. ⋯ Human immunodeficiency virus screening using an additional staff model has no clinically significant effect on the overall LOS for discharged patients.
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The objectives were to evaluate the presenting signs and symptoms of spinal cord and cauda equina compression (SCC) and to determine the incidence of emergency department (ED) misdiagnosis. ⋯ SCC can have a subtle presentation with absent or unilateral motor and sensory deficits, but gait ataxia may be an additional finding. ED misdiagnosis of SCC in nontrauma patients is common.