Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
-
Multicenter Study Observational Study
A prospective, multicenter evaluation of point-of-care ultrasound for appendicitis in the emergency department.
The main objective of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) for the diagnosis of appendicitis in a general emergency department (ED) population as performed by emergency physicians with variable ultrasound experience. ⋯ POCUS is moderately accurate for acute appendicitis as performed by emergency physicians with a wide range of ultrasound expertise, but lacks adequate sensitivity and specificity to function as a definitive test in an undifferentiated ED population. Further study is warranted to elucidate the optimal role of integrated POCUS in the general approach to suspected appendicitis.
-
Multicenter Study
Observation Unit Use Among Patients with Cancer Following Emergency Department Visits: Results of a Multicenter Prospective Cohort from CONCERN.
Emergency department (ED) visits by patients with cancer frequently end in hospitalization. As concerns about ED and hospital crowding increase, observation unit care may be an important strategy to deliver safe and efficient treatment for eligible patients. In this investigation, we compared the prevalence and clinical characteristics of cancer patients who received observation unit care with those who were admitted to the hospital from the ED. ⋯ In this multicenter prospective cohort study, the discrepancy between observation unit care use and short inpatient hospitalization may represent underutilization of this resource and a target for process change.