International journal of emergency medicine
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Recently developed crowding measures, such as the Emergency Department (ED) Work Index (EDWIN) score, provide a quantifiable measurement of overcrowding in the ED. ⋯ Overcrowding appears to be associated with a decreased likelihood of timely treatment for acute AMI in our ED.
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In 2003, the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR) published the Recommended Guidelines for Uniform Reporting of Data from Drowning: the "Utstein style" ("Utstein Style for Drowning," USFD) to improve the understanding of epidemiology, treatment, and outcome prediction after drowning. ⋯ DCA patients had a better survival rate (discharge from hospital), higher initial and average PETCO(2) values, and more of them had nonshockable initial rhythm. Survival (discharge from hospital) in DCA patients is associated with the PETCO(2) values, initial serum K+ values, administration of vasopressin, and ambulance response time.
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The elderly population is increasing in absolute and relative terms in most developed countries, and this is protected to have a major impact on the delivery of health care, particularly acute and emergency services. The aim of this study is to describe the pattern of utilization of emergency department (ED) services in Hong Kong by the elderly and to compare it to the utilization by younger adults. ⋯ With the foreseeable rapid growth of the elderly population, ED utilization by the elderly will increase. Health service delivery, including that in the ED, needs to take account of the specific features and requirements of the elderly population in each locale.
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The usual method for initial assessment of an acute asthma attack in the emergency room includes the use of peak flow measurement and clinical parameters. Both methods have their own disadvantages such as poor cooperation/effort from patients (peak flow meter) and lack of objective assessment (clinical parameters). We were looking into other methods for the initial asthma assessment, namely the use of capnography. The normal capnogram has an almost square wave pattern comprising phase 1, slope phase 2, plateau phase 3, phase 4 and angle alpha (between slopes 2 and 3). The changes in asthma include decrease in slope of phase 2, increase in slope 3 and opening of angle alpha. ⋯ Peak flow measurements and capnographic waveform indices can indicate improvements in airway diameter in acute asthmatics in the ED. Even though the two assessment methods did not correlate statistically, capnographic waveform analysis presents several advantages in that it is effort independent and provides continuous monitoring of normal tidal respiration. They can be proposed for the monitoring of asthmatics in the ED.