Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
-
Frequent emergency department (ED) users are high-risk and high-resource-utilizing patients. This systematic review evaluates effectiveness of interventions targeting adult frequent ED users in reducing visit frequency and improving patient outcomes. ⋯ Interventions targeting frequent ED users appear to decrease ED visits and may improve stable housing. Future research should examine cost-effectiveness and adopt standardized definitions.
-
Multicenter Study Observational Study
Challenges enrolling children into traumatic brain injury trials: An observational study.
In preparation for a clinical trial of therapeutic agents for children with moderate-to-severe blunt traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) in emergency departments (EDs), we conducted this feasibility study to (1) determine the number and clinical characteristics of eligible children, (2) determine the timing of patient and guardian arrival to the ED, and (3) describe the heterogeneity of TBIs on computed tomography (CT) scans. ⋯ Enrolling children with moderate-to-severe TBI into time-sensitive clinical trials will require large numbers of sites and meticulous preparation and coordination and will prove challenging to obtain informed consent given the timing of patient and guardian arrival. The Federal Exception from Informed Consent for Emergency Research will be an important consideration for enrolling these children.