Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
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The objective was to compare readmission rates and hospital bed-days between acute decompensated heart failure (AHF) patients admitted or discharged following accelerated treatment protocol (ATP)-driven care in an emergency department observation unit (OU). ⋯ Selected acute heart failure (HF) patients managed by a rapid treatment protocol in the OU demonstrated favorable hospital use, with discharged patients using fewer bed-days and demonstrating readmission rates that were not higher than admitted patients.
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The purpose of this study was to determine the fraction of children with acute appendicitis who had recent false-negative diagnoses and to analyze the association of a missed diagnosis of appendicitis with patient outcome. ⋯ Of children diagnosed with appendicitis, 4.8% may have had a missed opportunity for earlier diagnosis. These false-negative diagnoses are associated with higher rates of perforation, postoperative complications, and need for postoperative interventions, as well as longer hospitalizations.