Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
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The emergency department (ED) has been recommended as a suitable setting for offering pneumococcal vaccination; however, implementations of ED vaccination programs remain scarce. ⋯ Emergency department staff had favorable attitudes toward an ED-based pneumococcal vaccination program; however, considerable barriers inherent to the ED setting may challenge such a program. Applying information technology may overcome some barriers and facilitate an ED-based vaccination initiative.
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Base deficit (BD) is a reliable marker of metabolic acidosis and is useful in gauging hemorrhage after trauma. Resuscitation with chloride-rich solutions such as normal saline (NS) can cause a dilutional acidosis, possibly confounding the interpretation of BD. ⋯ Base deficit was able to distinguish minor from major injury after four hours of resuscitation, irrespective of the volume of NS infused.
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To determine whether it is possible to develop a feasible, valid, and reliable multisource feedback program (360 degree evaluation) for emergency physicians. ⋯ The psychometric examination of the data suggests that the instruments developed to assess emergency physicians were feasible and provide evidence for validity and reliability.
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The lack of valid classification methods for emergency department (ED) visit urgency has resulted in large variation in reported rates of nonurgent ED utilization. ⋯ The explicit criteria and resources methods best approximate implicit criteria in classifying ED visit urgency in infants younger than six months of age. If confirmed in further studies, resources utilized has the potential to be an inexpensive, easily applicable method for urgency classification of infant ED visits when limited data are available.
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To review the current literature on the effects of ambulance diversion (AD). ⋯ Despite its common use, there is a relative paucity of studies on the effects of AD. Further research into these effects should be performed so that we may understand the role of AD in the health system.