J Emerg Med
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Targeted care transitions programs may improve the value of hospital-based health care. Super-utilizing patients with multiple chronic conditions (MCC) are thought to be particularly amenable to care transitions interventions. ⋯ Medicare and Medicaid patients with high baseline utilization and MCC experience continued high health care utilization. Patient characteristics, future utilization patterns, and health outcomes suggest the subgroup identified is an important subgroup of super-utilizers that merits attention because they may be particularly amenable to intervention.
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Hereditary angioedema (HAE) is a rare disease characterized by C1-esterase inhibitor (C1-INH) deficiency, resulting in periodic attacks of acute edema, which can be life-threatening if they occur in the upper airway. No head-to-head comparisons of different treatment options for acute HAE attacks are available. Because immediate symptom relief is critical for potentially life-threatening laryngeal attacks, it is important to determine the treatment option that provides optimal treatment response. ⋯ Available data suggest that among different HAE treatments, body weight-adjusted pdC1-INH (20 U/kg) provides the most reliable treatment response for treatment of laryngeal HAE attacks.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Manual versus Mechanical Chest Compressions on Surfaces of Varying Softness with or without Backboards: A Randomized, Crossover Manikin Study.
Chest compression quality is decisive for overall outcome after cardiac arrest. Chest compression depth may decrease when cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is performed on a mattress, and the use of a backboard does not necessarily improve compression depth. Mechanical chest compression devices may overcome this problem. ⋯ In this experimental study, only ∼30% of manual chest compressions were performed correctly compared to ∼90% of mechanical chest compressions, regardless of the underlying surface. Backboard use did not influence the mean compression depth during manual CPR. Chest compressions were deeper with mechanical CPR. The mean hands-off time was shorter with manual CPR.