Isr Med Assoc J
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Comparative Study
Demographic and clinical parameters of patients with high risk behavior in a general hospital: the use of constant observation.
General hospital staff are often required to care for physically ill patients who arouse concern regarding risk of harm to themselves or others. Some of these patients,will be placed under one-to-one "constant observation." This is the first Israeli study of general hospital patients with high risk behavior. ⋯ Some of our results (predictive factors for constant observation) confirmed the findings of overseas studies. Our finding that a diagnosis of organic brain syndrome was not a predictive factor for constant observation was unexpected and requires further investigation. The correlation between a diagnosis of ischemic heart disease or COPD and duration of observation has not been reported previously and warrants further studies.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Efficacy of nebulized fluticasone propionate in adult patients admitted to the emergency department due to bronchial asthma attack.
Locally delivered steroids by inhalers or nebulizers have been shown in small trials to be effective in acute asthma attack, but evidence-based data are insufficient to establish their place as routine management of adult asthma attacks. ⋯ Our study cohort showed the advantage of nebulized steroid fluticasone versus systemic corticosteroids in adult asthmatics managed in the ED following an acute attack. Both these and previous results suggest that nebulized steroids should be used, either alone or in combination with systemic steroids, to treat adults suffering acute asthma attack.