J Emerg Med
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In certain medical specialties, board certification is associated with a lower risk of state medical board disciplinary actions. ⋯ The absolute incidence of physicians with a disciplinary action in this study cohort was low (3.0%). Maintaining ABEM certification was associated with a lower risk of state medical board disciplinary actions.
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Case Reports
A Case Report of Adhesional Small Bowel Obstruction Caused by Extraintestinal Anisakiasis.
Small bowel obstruction (SBO) is a common diagnosis made in the emergency department (ED). We present a case with an unusual underlying cause of SBO: extraintestinal infection with an Anisakis roundworm. ⋯ A healthy young woman with no prior abdominal surgery presented with epigastric abdominal pain, nausea, and anorexia 1 day after eating a raw oyster. Laboratory studies were significant for 14% eosinophilia. Initial abdominal computed tomography (CT) showed small bowel inflammation and small-volume ascites. After discharge home, she returned on day 14 of illness with a closed-loop SBO, to which she was predisposed by an adhesion formed in association with an eosinophilic abscess containing an Anisakis roundworm. WHY SHOULD AN EMERGENCY PHYSICIAN BE AWARE OF THIS?: Anisakiasis is an uncommon cause of common symptoms with which patients may present to EDs. The diagnosis should be considered in patients presenting with abdominal pain and recent ingestion of raw seafood, with suspicion raised further by the presence of focal gastric or small bowel inflammation and ascites on abdominal CT. Extraintestinal anisakiasis can cause inflammation leading to intraabdominal adhesions, a sequela of which is small bowel obstruction. If suspicion for gastric or intestinal anisakiasis is high, treatment with endoscopic removal or albendazole may be initiated.
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Multicenter Study Observational Study
External Validation of the qSOFA Score in Emergency Department Patients With Pneumonia.
Pneumonia is the leading cause of sepsis. In 2016, the 3rd International Consensus Conference for Sepsis released the Quick Sepsis-Related Organ Failure Assessment (qSOFA) to identify risk for poor outcomes in sepsis. ⋯ In this multicenter observational study of ED patients hospitalized with pneumonia, we found no significant differences between qSOFA and SIRS for predicting in-hospital death. In addition, several popular pneumonia-specific severity scores performed nearly identically to qSOFA score in predicting death and ICU utilization. Validation is needed in a larger sample.
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Nontraumatic headache is a frequent complaint in the emergency department (ED). Cranial computed tomography (CT) is a widely available test for the diagnostic work-up, despite the risk of exposure to ionizing radiation. ⋯ In nontraumatic headache among adults seen in the ED, CDSS decreased the cranial CT request rate but the diagnostic yield did not improve.