Articles: emergency-department.
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Emergency medicine staff is working at risk of blood-borne infections during their daily practice every time. The risk of transmission is higher when dealing with critically ill patients. Our objective was to find out the prevalence of Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, and HIV, in critically ill red-coded emergency department patients. ⋯ Prevalence of HCV (1.8%) and HBV(5%) seroprevalence in our study group was very low which correlated with the recent literature regarding the Turkish population. HIV was not detected during the study period. This may also be accepted as consistent with the very low number of reported cases in Turkey.
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Hydrostatic pulmonary edema is as an abnormal increase in extravascular water secondary to elevated pressure in the pulmonary circulation, due to congestive heart failure or intravascular volume overload. Diagnosis of hydrostatic pulmonary edema is usually based on clinical signs associated to conventional radiography findings. Interpretation of radiologic signs of cardiogenic pulmonary edema are often questionable and subject. ⋯ The integration of conventional chest radiograph with LUS can be very helpful to obtain the correct diagnosis. Computed tomography (CT) is of limited use in the work up of cardiogenic pulmonary edema, due to its high cost, little use in the emergencies and radiation exposure. However, a deep knowledge of CT signs of pulmonary edema is crucial when other similar pulmonary conditions may occasionally be in the differential diagnosis.
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J. Am. Coll. Cardiol. · Jun 2014
Undetectable high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T level in the emergency department and risk of myocardial infarction.
This study sought to evaluate if an undetectable (<5 ng/l) high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T (hs-cTnT) level and an electrocardiogram (ECG) without signs of ischemia can rule out myocardial infarction (MI) in the emergency department (ED). ⋯ All patients with chest pain who have an initial hs-cTnT level of <5 ng/l and no signs of ischemia on an ECG have a minimal risk of MI or death within 30 days, and can be safely discharged directly from the ED.
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Observational Study
Prescription opioid misuse among ED patients discharged with opioids.
The purposes of this study were to determine the prevalence of prescription opioid misuse in a cohort of discharged emergency department (ED) patients who received prescription opioids and to examine factors predictive of misuse. ⋯ Prescription opioid misuse was prevalent among this cohort of ED patients. A heterogeneous mixture of behaviors was captured. Future research should focus on the etiologies of misuse with directed screening and interventions to decrease misuse.