J Emerg Med
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Review
Understanding the Value of Emergency Care: A Framework Incorporating Stakeholder Perspectives.
In the face of escalating spending, measuring and maximizing the value of health services has become an important focus of health reform. Recent initiatives aim to incentivize high-value care through provider and hospital payment reform, but the role of the emergency department (ED) remains poorly defined. ⋯ The value of emergency care varies by perspective, and a better understanding is achieved when specific outcomes and costs can be identified, quantified, and measured. Using this framework can help stakeholders find common ground to prioritize which costs and outcomes to target for research, quality improvement efforts, and future health policy impacting emergency care.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Injectable Lidocaine Provides Similar Analgesia Compared to Transdermal Lidocaine/Tetracaine Patch for the Incision and Drainage of Skin Abscesses: A Randomized, Controlled Trial.
Local anesthesia used for incision and drainage of abscesses is known to be painful. ⋯ Local injection of lidocaine provided clinically similar analgesia compared to the lidocaine/tetracaine patch during I&D of skin abscesses in the ED. Pain at presentation and after the procedure was similar in both groups. Emergency physicians should continue to use a local injected anesthetic for I&D of skin abscesses until a less painful alternative is identified.
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Multicenter Study
Identifying Frequent Users of Emergency Department Resources.
There is growing focus on frequent users of acute care resources. If these patients can be identified, interventions can be established to offer more consistent management plans to decrease inappropriate utilization. ⋯ A community-wide identification method resulted in greater numbers of individuals being identified as frequent and super ED users than when utilizing individual hospital data.