Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
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Behavioral health-related emergency department (ED) visits have been linked with ED overcrowding, an increased demand on limited resources, and a longer length of stay (LOS) due in part to patients being admitted to the hospital but waiting for an inpatient bed. This study examines factors associated with the likelihood of hospital admission for ED patients with behavioral health conditions at 16 hospital-based EDs in a large urban area in the southern United States. ⋯ The block of enabling factors was the strongest predictor of hospitalization following an ED visit compared to predisposing and need factors. Our findings also provide evidence of disparities in hospitalization of the uninsured and racial and ethnic minority patients with ED visits for behavioral health conditions. Thus, improved access to community-based behavioral health services and an increased capacity for inpatient psychiatric hospitals for treating indigent patients may be needed to improve the efficiency of ED services in our region for patients with behavioral health conditions. Among need factors, a discharge diagnosis of schizophrenia/psychotic spectrum disorder, an affective disorder, a personality disorder, an impulse control disorder, or dementia as well as secondary diagnoses of suicidal ideation and/or suicidal behavior increased the likelihood of hospitalization following an ED visit, also suggesting an opportunity for improving the efficiency of ED care through the provision of psychiatric services to stabilize and treat patients with serious mental illness.
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Case Reports Multicenter Study
Which Febrile Children with Sickle Cell Disease Need a Chest X-Ray?
Controversy exists regarding which febrile children with sickle cell disease (SCD) should receive a chest x-ray (CXR). Our goal is to provide data informing the decision of which febrile children with SCD presenting to the emergency department (ED) require a CXR to evaluate for acute chest syndrome (ACS). ⋯ Children with SCD presenting to the ED with fever and shortness of breath, tachypnea, cough, rales, or chest pain should receive a CXR due to high ACS rates. A higher WBC count or history of ACS in a child without one of those symptoms may suggest the need for a CXR. Prospective validation of these criteria is needed.
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In 2012 the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education and the American Board of Emergency Medicine released the emergency medicine milestones. The Patient Care 12 (PC12) subcompetency delineates staged and progressive accomplishment in emergency ultrasound. ⋯ A multiorganizational task force was formed between the American College of Emergency Physicians Ultrasound Section, the Council of Emergency Medicine Residency Directors, and the Academy of Emergency Ultrasound of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine. Representatives from each organization created this consensus document and revision.
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Traditionally, emergency department (ED) physicians rely on their clinical examination to differentiate between cellulitis and abscess when evaluating skin and soft tissue infections (SSTI). Management of an abscess requires incision and drainage, whereas cellulitis generally requires a course of antibiotics. Misdiagnosis often results in unnecessary invasive procedures, sedations (for incision and drainage in pediatric patients), or a return ED visit for failed antibiotic therapy. ⋯ Existing evidence indicates that POCUS is useful in identifying abscess in ED patients with SSTI. In cases where physical examination is equivocal, POCUS can assist physicians to distinguish abscess from cellulitis.