Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
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Torture has been documented in 132 countries, and approximately 400,000 survivors of torture reside in the United States. It is unknown if torture survivors seek medical care in emergency departments (EDs). The authors set out to estimate the prevalence of survivors of torture presenting to an urban ED. ⋯ Self-reported survivors of torture presented to this urban ED, and a significant proportion of them met the UNCAT definition of a torture survivor. Continuing torture-related medical and psychological sequelae were identified, yet there was a low rate of asylum-seeking. Only a minority were previously identified by a physician. These data suggest an unrecognized public health concern and an opportunity for emergency physicians to intervene and refer survivors of torture to existing community resources.
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Postexposure prophylaxis (PEP) has substantially reduced the risk of acquiring human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) after an occupational exposure; nevertheless, exposure to HIV remains a concern for emergency department providers. According to published guidelines, PEP should be taken only when source patients are HIV-positive or have risk factors for HIV. ⋯ Forgoing PEP if the source is infected results in increased risk of acquiring HIV. What should be done if source patients refuse HIV testing? Is it justifiable to test the blood of these patients over their autonomous objection? The authors review current law and policy and perform an ethical analysis to determine if laws permitting unconsented testing in cases of occupational exposure can be ethically justified.
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Current outpatient diagnostic algorithms for urinary tract infection (UTI) in older adults require the presence of classic signs and symptoms of UTI, such as fever and genitourinary symptoms. However, older adults with UTI may present with atypical signs and symptoms. The objective was to identify the associations of age and nursing home status with the clinical presentation of emergency department (ED) patients diagnosed with UTI. ⋯ Fever and urinary tract symptoms are absent in a large proportion of adults over 65 years of age diagnosed with UTI in the ED. Age over 65 years and nursing home residence are associated with increased presence of altered mental status and with lack of urinary tract symptoms. Nursing home residence is also associated with increased presence of fever. Emergency physicians (EPs) continue to diagnose UTI in patients without classic symptoms. Diagnostic criteria for UTI among adults 65 years and over specifically designed for use in the acute care setting should be developed and validated to prevent both inappropriate overdiagnosis and underdiagnosis of UTI.
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Patient and parent satisfaction are important measures of quality of care. Data are lacking regarding satisfaction with emergency procedures, including laceration repair. The objective was to define the elements of care that are important to parents during a pediatric laceration repair and to determine the predictors of excellent parent satisfaction. ⋯ Provider performance, which comprises the elements of physician communication, caring attitude, confidence, and hygiene, is the strongest predictor of excellent parent satisfaction for pediatric patients with ED visits for laceration repair.
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Patient care transitions across specialties involve more complexity than those within the same specialty, yet the unique social and technical features remain underexplored. Further, little consensus exists among researchers and practitioners about strategies to improve interspecialty communication. This concept article addresses these gaps by focusing on the hand-off process between emergency and hospital medicine physicians. ⋯ Quality measures are proposed within the structure, process, and outcome framework for institutions seeking to evaluate and monitor improvement strategies in hand-off performance. Validation studies to determine if these suggested improvements in transition communication will result in improved patient outcomes will be necessary. By exploring the dynamics of transition communication between specialties and suggesting best practices, the authors hope to strengthen hand-off skills and contribute to improved continuity of care.