International journal of emergency medicine
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There is a growing interest in emergency departments (EDs) and the development of emergency medicine in The Netherlands. In the last decade several policy reports have stated that the quality of emergency care should be improved and that emergency physicians (EPs) play a large role in the quality improvement. The Netherlands Society of Emergency Physicians (NVSHA) has developed an emergency medicine training program, which has been nationally recognized since 2009. Nevertheless, not all EDs are staffed with EPs yet. This study aimed to explore differences between Dutch EDs with EPs and those without EPs. ⋯ This study shows that EPs are significantly more present in larger EDs and in EDs where there is more continuing professional education and where there are more clinical audit activities. Our findings suggest that the presence of emergency physicians is positively associated with the quality of emergency care, but prospective research is required to examine causality.
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The Emergency Severity Index (ESI) has earned reliability and validity in adult populations but has not been adequately evaluated in pediatric patients. The aim of this study was to assess the reliability of the ESI version 4 and inter-rater reliability measures to evaluate the performance of nurses in the emergency ward. ⋯ ESI scores assigned to the pediatric patients are reliable in the hands of experienced PT nurses and PEM physicians. The very good agreement between PT nurses and PEM physicians, demonstrated in this study, is essential in cooperative work in crowded referral emergency departments and helpful in challenging triage cases.
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Splenic injury is normally associated with trauma, but spontaneous splenic rupture has been described in various systemic diseases. ⋯ Non-traumatic splenic rupture is a rare complication of oral anticoagulation.
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Children account for nearly 20% of all US emergency department (ED) visits, yet previous national surveys found that many EDs lack specialized pediatric care. In response, a 2001 joint policy statement recommended resources needed by EDs for effective pediatric emergency care delivery. We sought to update and enhance previous estimates of pediatric services available in US EDs. ⋯ We found little change in pediatric emergency services compared to earlier estimates. Our study results suggest a continued need for improvements to ensure access to emergency care for children.
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Although the number of elderly increases disproportionately throughout the industrialised nations and intubation-related cardiovascular compromise is associated with hospital mortality, no emergency medicine literature has reported the direction and magnitude of effect of advanced age on post-intubation hypotension. We seek to determine whether advanced age is associated with an increased rate of hypotension at airway management in emergency departments (EDs). ⋯ In this large multi-centre study of ED patients who underwent emergent airway management, we found that elderly patients have a significantly higher risk of post-intubation hypotension. These data provide implications for the education and practice of ED airway management that may lead to better clinical outcomes and improved patient safety.