Can J Emerg Med
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Comparative Study
Evaluation of the incidence, risk factors, and impact on patient outcomes of postintubation hemodynamic instability.
Postintubation hemodynamic instability (PIHI) is a potentially life-threatening adverse event of emergent endotracheal intubation. The objectives of this study were to determine the incidence, risk factors, and impact on patient outcomes associated with PIHI in intubations performed in emergency medicine. ⋯ Based on our data, postintubation hypotension occurs in a significant proportion of ED patients requiring emergent airway control. Further investigation is needed to confirm the factors we found to be associated with PIHI and to determine if PIHI is associated with increased morbidity and mortality.
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Multicenter Study Comparative Study
Survey of emergency physicians' requirements for a clinical decision rule for acute respiratory illnesses in three countries.
ABSTRACTObjective:There are currently no widely used guidelines to determine which older patients with acute respiratory conditions require hospital admission. This study assessed the need for clinical decision rules to help determine whether hospital admission is required for patients over 50 years for three common respiratory conditions: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), heart failure (HF), and community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). ⋯ EPs are likely to adopt highly sensitive clinical decision rules to predict the need for hospital admission for patients over 50 years with COPD, HF, or CAP.
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Do specific elements of the history and physical examination predict the presence of pulmonary embolism in the emergency department? ⋯ To determine whether implicit clinical predictors previously untested predict the presence of pulmonary embolism in the emergency department.
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Comparative Study
Prevalence of advance directives among elderly patients attending an urban Canadian emergency department.
To date, there has been minimal research on advance directives (ADs) among elderly patients in Canadian emergency departments (EDs). The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of ADs among elderly patients visiting an urban ED. We also explored whether there were factors associated with the existence of an AD and possible barriers to having one. ⋯ Knowledge of ADs among elderly patients visiting an urban Canadian ED is limited and is likely a significant factor precluding wider prevalence of ADs. There is interest in further discussion about ADs in this population group.