Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
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Observational Study
Validation of the Brief Confusion Assessment Method for screening delirium in elderly medical patients in a German emergency department.
Delirium is frequent in elderly patients presenting in the emergency department (ED). Despite the severe prognosis, the majority of delirium cases remain undetected by emergency physicians (EPs). At the time of our study there was no valid delirium screening tool available for EDs in German-speaking regions. We aimed to evaluate the brief Confusion Assessment Method (bCAM) for a German ED during the daily work routine. ⋯ This was the first study evaluating the bCAM for a German ED and when performed by EPs during routine work. The bCAM showed good specificity, but only moderate sensitivity. Nevertheless, application of the bCAM most likely improves the delirium detection rate in German EDs. However, it should only be applied by trained physicians to maximize diagnostic accuracy and hence improve the bCAM's sensitivity. Future studies should refine the bCAM.
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The Global Emergency Medicine Literature Review (GEMLR) conducts an annual search of peer-reviewed and gray literature relevant to global emergency medicine (EM) to identify, review, and disseminate the most important new research in this field to a global audience of academics and clinical practitioners. ⋯ In 2017, the total number of articles identified by our search continued to increase. Studies and reviews with a focus on infectious diseases, pediatrics, and trauma represented the majority of top-scoring articles.
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Emergency department (ED) visits provide an opportunity for hepatitis C virus (HCV) screening for patients who otherwise might not be tested. We report on a novel nontargeted, opt-out HCV screening and linkage-to-care (LTC) program implemented in an urban ED. ⋯ Nontargeted opt-out HCV testing can be successfully implemented in an ED setting. A number of patients diagnosed were outside traditional risk groups. Once diagnosed, an ED population may be difficult to engage in care, but a structured interdisciplinary program can successfully link patients to HCV care.
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Observational Study
Causes of shortness of breath in the acute patient: A national study.
Dyspnea is a common and ambiguous complaint that results in 3.4 million emergency department (ED) visits annually. While learners may encounter lists of differential diagnoses to consider while in training, often these lists are not empirically based. We sought to establish an evidence-based differential diagnosis for dyspnea and to determine whether normal vital signs can rule out a life-threatening diagnosis. ⋯ For patients with dyspnea, the high utilization of ICUs highlights the importance of an accurate differential. The frequencies established here can be used as pretest probabilities in Bayesian analysis to improve the accuracy of differential diagnosis lists.