Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
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To assess public views on emergency exception to informed consent in resuscitation research, public awareness of such studies, and effective methods of community consultation and public notification. ⋯ Most respondents disagreed with foregoing prospective informed consent for research participation even in emergency situations; however, many would be willing to participate in studies using emergency exception from informed consent. Most respondents would not attend community meetings, and would prefer to rely upon the media for information. Very few were aware of emergency exception from informed consent studies in their community. This suggests that current methods of community notification may not be effective.
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To assess the accuracy of emergency physicians and trainees in the interpretation of noncontrast helical computed tomography (NCHCT) for suspected renal colic by examining the interrater reliability between emergency department (ED) clinicians and radiologists. ⋯ Emergency clinicians are able to identify renal calculi with a high degree of accuracy but may miss important nonrenal abnormalities. Therefore, all patients without evidence of renal tract calculus on NCHCT must have early and appropriate follow-up.
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This article summarizes discussions held during a conference on outcomes research in emergency medical services for children. It provides detailed information on existing outcome measures for pediatric minor head injury. Benefits and/or limitations in their applicability for use in pediatric emergency medicine and pediatric minor head injury research are highlighted.
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Multicenter Study
Uncovering heart failure in patients with a history of pulmonary disease: rationale for the early use of B-type natriuretic peptide in the emergency department.
Plasma B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) can reliably identify acute congestive heart failure (CHF) in patients presenting to the emergency department (ED) with acute dyspnea. Heart failure, asthma, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are syndromes where dyspnea and wheezing are overlapping signs, and hence, these syndromes are often difficult to differentiate. ⋯ The yield of adding routine BNP testing in patients with a history of asthma or COPD in picking up newly diagnosed CHF is approximately 20%. This group of patients presents a substantial therapeutic opportunity for the initiation and chronic administration of ACEI and BB therapy, as well as other CHF management strategies.
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The Research Agenda Setting Process (RASP), part of the American Geriatric Society's (AGS's) project "Increasing Geriatric Expertise in Surgical and Related Medical Specialties," was designed to define a research agenda for the geriatrics aspects of participating specialties. This paper presents a summary of the research agenda for emergency medicine. ⋯ A research agenda for geriatric emergency medicine has been developed, using a combination of review of current literature and expert opinion.