Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
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Alcohol use is a major and unpredictable driver of emergency department (ED) visits. Regional Twitter activity correlates ecologically with behavioral outcomes. No such correlation has been established in real time. ⋯ In a single state, a statistically significant relationship was observed between the hourly number of alcohol-related tweets and the hourly number of alcohol-related ED visits. Real-time Twitter monitoring may help predict alcohol-related surges in ED visits. Future studies should include larger numbers of EDs and natural language processing.
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The objective was to evaluate the effect of an emergency clinician-initiated "ED admission holding order set" on emergency department (ED) treatment times and length of stay (LOS). We further describe the impact of a performance improvement strategy with sequential plan-do-study-act (PDSA) cycles used to influence the primary outcome measures, ED LOS, and disposition decision to patient gone (DDTPG) time, for admitted patients. ⋯ We conclude that the use of emergency physician-initiated holding orders can lead to marked reductions in ED LOS for admitted patients. Continued improvement can be demonstrated with an effective performance improvement initiative designed to continuously optimize the process change.
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Observational Study
First Pass Success without Hypoxemia is Increased with the Use of Apneic Oxygenation During RSI in the Emergency Department.
The objective was to determine the effect of apneic oxygenation (AP OX) on first pass success without hypoxemia (FPS-H) in adult patients undergoing rapid sequence intubation (RSI) in the emergency department (ED). ⋯ The use of AP OX during the RSI of adult patients in the ED was associated with a significant increase in FPS-H. These results suggest that the use of AP OX has the potential to increase the safety of RSI in the ED by reducing the number of intubation attempts and the incidence of hypoxemia.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study
Comparison of Intravenous Morphine vs Paracetamol in Sciatica: A Randomized Placebo Controlled Trial.
The objective was to compare intravenous morphine and intravenous acetaminophen (paracetamol) for pain treatment in patients presenting to the emergency department with sciatica. ⋯ Morphine and acetaminophen are both effective for treating sciatica at 30 minutes. However, morphine is superior to acetaminophen.