Articles: emergency-department.
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Patients with anemia are frequently encountered in the emergency department (ED); emergency physicians (EPs) often play an important role in the evaluation and management of anemia. Although many patients have findings consistent with anemia on routine laboratory tests, only a small percentage will require acute intervention. An understanding of the broader types of anemia and how to manage such patients is important in the practice of an EP, as the presence of anemia will impact treatment plans for a variety of other disorders. This article reviews the evaluation and management of adult patients presenting to the ED with anemia.
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Emerg Med Australas · Aug 2014
Demand for emergency department services in the elderly: An 11 year analysis of the Greater Sydney Area.
To describe trends in population-based rates of ED presentations in the Greater Sydney Area (GSA) and compare these between the elderly and non-elderly age groups. ⋯ A disproportionate increase in ED presentation rates and in-patient admission rates in patients aged 80 years and over was demonstrated over 11 years in the GSA. ED models of care and system wide strategies to address these demographic changes are required.
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The purpose of this study is to provide resistance data for Escherichia coli isolates causing urinary tract infections in emergency department (ED) patients not requiring admission and explore if differences between this subpopulation and the hospital antibiogram exist. Differences between community-acquired urinary tract infection (CA-UTI) and health care-associated (HA-UTI) subgroups were also investigated. ⋯ E coli susceptibility for ED patients not requiring admission may not be accurately represented by hospital antibiograms that contain culture data from various patient types, sites of infection, or patients with varying illness severity. Separation of the ED population into CA-UTI and HA-UTI subgroups may be helpful when selecting empiric antibiotic therapy.
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Pediatric emergency care · Aug 2014
J-Splint Use for Temporizing Management of Pediatric Femur Fractures: A Review of 18 Cases.
Pediatric femoral fractures are common injuries encountered in the field and in emergency departments. Currently described temporizing management strategies include skeletal traction, skin traction, traction splinting, and posterior splinting, all of which are suboptimal in some instances. J-splinting femur fractures may be advantageous in temporizing management of pediatric femur fractures. The objective of this study was to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of J-splint use for temporizing management of pediatric femur fractures. ⋯ The J-splint is a reliable, simple, and rapidly applied splint that prevents many of the complications and downfalls of other described temporizing measures and helps to provide excellent pain management in the acute setting.
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The ongoing challenge for ED leaders is to remain abreast of system-wide changes that impact on the day-to-day management of their departments. Changes to the funding model creates another layer of complexity and this introductory paper serves as the beginning of a discussion about the way in which EDs are funded and how this can and will impact on business decisions, models of care and resource allocation within Australian EDs. Furthermore it is evident that any funding model today will mature and change with time, and moves are afoot to refine and contextualise ED funding over the medium term. This perspective seeks to provide a basis of understanding for our current and future funding arrangements in Australian EDs.