Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
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Our objective was to evaluate patient-reported oxygen saturation (SpO2 ) using pulse oximetry as a home monitoring tool for patients with initially nonsevere COVID-19 to identify need for hospitalization. ⋯ This study found that home pulse oximetry monitoring identifies need for hospitalization in initially nonsevere COVID-19 patients when a cutoff of SpO2 92% is used. Half of patients who ended up hospitalized had SpO2 < 92% without worsening symptoms. Home SpO2 monitoring also reduces unnecessary ED revisits.
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Observational Study
Depression and Functional Outcomes in Patients Presenting to the Emergency Department With Low Back Pain.
Low back pain (LBP) is a common reason for patients to present to emergency departments (EDs). Our objective was to describe the associations between depressive symptoms, pain severity, and functional impairment up to 3 months after initial ED presentation for LBP. ⋯ Significant positive temporal associations exist between initial severity and 3-month progression of depressive symptoms and 3-month pain intensity and disability outcomes for ED patients with LBP. Future work is needed to investigate whether behavioral interventions initiated from the ED may mitigate the incidence and severity of LBP-related chronic pain and functional impairments.