Articles: emergency-department.
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This study examined the safety and effectiveness of the procedural sedation analgesia (PSA) technique carried out in the emergency department (ED) of a university hospital over a period of 1 year. The research was done to compare the effectiveness and efficacy of moderate sedation of fentanyl combined with either midazolam or propofol for any brief, intense procedure in the ED setting. ⋯ This study had proven that there was no difference in adverse event occurrence between the studied drugs during PSA. Propofol can be recommended for use in PSA if the operator is well trained and familiar with the drug.
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The objective of this survey was to assess adult primary care physicians' and pediatricians' perceptions of asthma exacerbation management, including beliefs concerning the discharge of patients from the emergency department (ED) following asthma exacerbations. ⋯ This study showed that healthcare providers may not share a common definition of an asthma exacerbation. In addition, most physicians believe that the majority of exacerbations are treated in their office or at home. Further, most agreed that if a controller medication was warranted, the ED or urgent care staff should initiate treatment.
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Editor's capsule summary for Cruz et al: (1) WHAT IS ALREADY KNOWN ON THIS TOPIC: Valid clinical research requires high-quality data collection. Physicians are commonly considered the standard by which valid prospective data are obtained. WHAT QUESTION THIS STUDY ADDRESSED: This study determined whether non-medically trained research assistants could reliably collect subjective historical data from emergency department patients with chest pain. ⋯ Research assistants demonstrated fair to excellent reliability (as defined by crude agreement and kappa) when obtaining cardiac histories and cardiac risk factors. HOW THIS MIGHT CHANGE CLINICAL PRACTICE: The results of this study will not change clinical practice. They do, however, provide evidence to support the use of trained research assistants for the collection of certain types of clinical data.