J Emerg Med
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The intubating laryngeal mask airway (ILMA) is an extraglottic device with a high rate of successful ventilation and oxygenation. Most modern airway algorithms suggest using an extraglottic device as the first-line rescue technique for a failed airway in emergency airway management. Eventually, a more secure airway is needed if the extraglottic temporizing device is working well. Retrograde intubation is a surgical airway management technique that is effective but relatively slow, making it most useful when ventilation can be maintained during the procedure. ⋯ We report 2 cases of difficult emergency airway management with an ILMA used initially and retrograde intubation later used to establish a more secure airway. WHY SHOULD AN EMERGENCY PHYSICIAN BE AWARE OF THIS?: Retrograde incubation can be performed with an LMA in place for complicated airway management.
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The effectiveness of observation unit (OU) management of skin and soft tissue infections (SSTI) has not been fully evaluated. ⋯ SSTI can be successfully treated in the OU, though febrile children with SSTI are at risk for OU treatment failure and should be considered for inpatient admission.
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In our academic emergency department, our senior residents lead their own patient care team, known as the red team (RT). Attending physicians are responsible for managing their own team (AT) and precepting the senior resident's cases. ⋯ We found that our patient care model did not lead to an increased number of M&M cases and RT cases were not associated with worse outcomes overall. Additionally, there was no increased rate of M&M cases in the beginning of the academic year.
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The Affordable Care Act has added millions of new Medicaid enrollees to the health care system. These patients account for a large proportion of emergency department (ED) utilization. ⋯ The vast majority of Medicaid enrollees who used the ED were young females, with a large proportion of visits occurring during business hours. Almost one-third of all visits were from frequent ED users.