The western journal of emergency medicine
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Lactate clearance has been implicated as a predictor of mortality among emergency department (ED) patients with severe sepsis or septic shock. We aimed to validate prior studies showing that lactate clearance during the ED stay is associated with decreased mortality. ⋯ Patients who do not clear their lactate in the ED have significantly higher mortality than those with decreasing lactate levels. Our results are confirmatory of other literature supporting that lactate clearance may be used to stratify mortality-risk among patients with severe sepsis or septic shock.
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Medical errors are frequently under-reported, yet their appropriate analysis, coupled with remediation, is essential for continuous quality improvement. The emergency department (ED) is recognized as a complex and chaotic environment prone to errors. In this paper, we describe the design and implementation of a web-based ED-specific incident reporting system using an iterative process. ⋯ Error reporting frequency can be dramatically improved by using a web-based, user-friendly, voluntary, and non-punitive reporting system.
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Observational Study
Derivation and Validation of Predictive Factors for Clinical Deterioration after Admission in Emergency Department Patients Presenting with Abnormal Vital Signs Without Shock.
Strategies to identify high-risk emergency department (ED) patients often use markedly abnormal vital signs and serum lactate levels. Risk stratifying such patients without using the presence of shock is challenging. The objective of the study is to identify independent predictors of in-hospital adverse outcomes in ED patients with abnormal vital signs or lactate levels, but who are not in shock. ⋯ Patients exhibiting abnormal vital signs or elevated lactate levels without shock had significant rates of deterioration after hospitalization. ED clinical data predicted patients who suffered adverse outcomes with reasonable reliability.
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The utility of troponin as a marker for acute coronary occlusion and patient outcome after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is unclear. We sought to determine whether initial or peak troponin was associated with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), OHCA survival or neurological outcome. ⋯ In our single-center patient cohort, peak troponin, but not initial troponin, was associated with higher likelihood of PCI, while neither initial nor peak troponin were associated with survival or neurological outcome in OHCA patients.