Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
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Observational Study
Emergency Department Condition Acuity, Length of Stay, and Revisits Among Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Patients: A Retrospective Chart Review.
Deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) patients are understudied in emergency medicine health services research. Theory and limited evidence suggest that DHH patients are at higher risk of emergency department (ED) utilization and poorer quality of care. This study assessed ED condition acuity, length of stay (LOS), and acute ED revisits among DHH patients. We hypothesized that DHH patients would experience poorer ED care outcomes. ⋯ Our study identified that DHH ASL users have longer ED LOS than non-DHH English speakers. Additional research is needed to further explain the association between DHH status and ED care outcomes (including ED LOS and acute revisit), which may be used to identify intervention targets to improve health equity.
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Review Meta Analysis
Clinical frailty scale as a predictor of short-term mortality: A systematic review and meta-analysis of studies on diagnostic test accuracy.
The Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS) is a representative frailty assessment tool in medicine. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to examine whether frailty defined based on the CFS could adequately predict short-term mortality in emergency department (ED) patients. ⋯ Evidence that is published to date suggests that the CFS is an accurate and reliable tool for predicting short-term mortality in emergency patients.
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Existing evidence suggest the emergence of palliative care (PC) services in the emergency department (ED). To gain insight into the nature of these services and provide direction to future actions, there is a need for a comprehensive review that ascertains the components of these services, integration models, and outcomes. ⋯ PC implementation in the ED may potentially improve patient and family outcomes. More studies are needed, however, to standardize trigger or screening tools. More prospective studies are also needed to test PC interventions in the ED.