Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study
The utility of the bispectral index in procedural sedation with propofol in the emergency department.
The bispectral index (BIS) may be a useful monitor to predict the level of awareness in patients undergoing procedural sedation in the emergency department (ED). ⋯ There was a lower rate of RD when physicians had access to the BIS during procedural sedations. This difference was greater in sedations requiring multiple doses of propofol. There was no difference in the rate of RD when only a single dose was given.
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As demand for emergency services outpaces available allocated resources, emergency department (ED) triage systems face increasing scrutiny. Longer waits for care make the use of reliable, valid triage systems imperative to patient safety. Little is known about the reliability and validity of triage systems in children. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the reliability and validity of the Emergency Severity Index version 3 (ESIv.3) triage algorithm in a pediatric population. ⋯ The ESI triage algorithm demonstrated reliability and validity between triage assignment and resource use in this group of ED pediatric patients.
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Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Who should be estimating a patient's weight in the emergency department?
Medical personnel often need to estimate a patient's weight rapidly and accurately to administer pharmacologic agents whose dosages are based on weight. Inaccurate estimates of weight may result in administration of either subtherapeutic or, in other cases, toxic doses of medications. The hypothesis of this study was that the patient is a more accurate estimator of his or her own weight than the physician or nurse caring for him or her. ⋯ When a patient is unable to be weighed, the patient's own weight estimate should be used. If neither is possible, the physician or nurse should estimate the patient's weight.