Articles: emergency-department.
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The use of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) for low-acuity pediatric problems is well documented. Attempts have been made to curb potentially unnecessary transports, including using EMS dispatch protocols, shown to predict acuity and needs of adults. However, there are limited data about this in children. The primary objective of this study is to determine the pediatric emergency department (PED) resource utilization (surrogate of acuity level) for pediatric patients categorized as "low-acuity" by initial EMS protocols. ⋯ While this EMS system did not well predict overall resource utilization, it safely identified most low-acuity patients, with a low under-triage rate. This study identifies subgroups of patients that could be managed without emergent transport and can be used to further refine current protocols or establish secondary triage systems.
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Observational Study
Addition of a lateral view improves adequate visualization of the abdominal aorta during clinician performed ultrasound.
Full visualization of the abdominal aorta using the standard midline view is often inadequate for the detection of abdominal aortic aneurysm. We evaluated whether the addition of a lateral midaxillary right upper quadrant view could improve visualization of the abdominal aorta. ⋯ Combining a lateral view to the standard midline approach improves adequate visualization of the abdominal aorta by approximately 28%. Further study is required to determine if the lateral view is equivalent for detecting abdominal aortic aneurysm.
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Pediatric emergency care · Mar 2014
Comparative StudyPresentation to either the pediatric emergency department or primary care clinic for acute illness: the caregivers' perspective.
This study aimed to understand and compare caregivers' perceptions of and attitudes toward care received in a primary care clinic (PCC) versus that received in the pediatric emergency department (PED) as well as the reasons for selecting either location to receive care for their child. ⋯ Although all children had the same medical home, caregivers who presented to the PCC were more likely to have called the clinic, spoken with a nurse, and reported greater satisfaction with the PCC than those who brought their child to the PED.
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Fever can be treated with a higher priority than pain in the pediatric emergency department (ED) population. ⋯ Fever is treated more promptly than pain in the pediatric ED. This difference is associated with prevailing and largely unfounded concerns about fever and the undertreatment of pain (oligoanalgesia).