Articles: emergency-department.
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Hypothermia, as a sign of serious bacterial infection (SBI) in children and infants older than 90 days is poorly characterized, especially in the post-pneumococcal vaccine era. ⋯ There is a low incidence of SBI in well-appearing children presenting to the PED with hypothermia and a benign course and outcome in those older than 3 months.
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To determine the incidence, characteristics, disposition, and economic burden of emergency department (ED) visits for ophthalmic trauma in the United States (US). ⋯ Ophthalmic trauma represents an increasingly significant burden to EDs in the US. Preventive efforts should target young males from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Strategies to improve outpatient access and redirect non-urgent injuries may help alleviate costs.
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Emergency department turnover rates increased at Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center. Most applicants were new graduate registered nurses. A strength, weakness, opportunity, threat analysis revealed 3 weaknesses regarding new graduate registered nurses in emergency departments. Transition to practice program was necessary, new graduate registered nurse competency needed to progress rapidly, and retention rates needed improvement. ⋯ This development of the emergency department registered nurse transition to practice pathway resulted in improved emergency department registered nurse retention and confidence. Savings from reduced turnover and reduced temporary labor staffing were achieved with this program. Implementation takes careful resource management, ongoing analysis, and research to validate return on investment.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Atomized Intranasal Ketorolac Versus Intravenous Ketorolac for the Treatment of Severe Renal Colic in the Emergency Department: A Double-Blind, Randomized Controlled Trial.
Atomized intranasal (IN) drug administration offers an alternative to the intravenous (IV) route. We aimed to evaluate the analgesic efficacy of IN versus IV ketorolac in emergency department patients with acute renal colic. ⋯ Neither IN or IV ketorolac was superior to the other for the treatment of acute renal colic, and both provided clinically meaningful reductions in pain scores at 30 to 60 minutes.
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Acute cholecystitis accounts for up to 9% of hospital admissions for acute abdominal pain, and best practice entails early surgical management. Ultrasound is the standard modality used to confirm diagnosis. Our objective was to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis to determine the diagnostic accuracy of emergency physician-performed point-of-care ultrasound for the diagnosis of acute cholecystitis when compared with a reference standard of final diagnosis (informed by available surgical pathology, discharge diagnosis, and radiology-performed ultrasound). ⋯ Emergency physician-performed point-of-care ultrasound with final diagnosis as the reference standard (7 studies, n=1,772) had a pooled sensitivity of 70.9% (95% confidence interval [CI] 62.3 to 78.2), specificity of 94.4% (95% CI 88.2 to 97.5), positive likelihood ratio of 12.7 (5.8 to 27.5), and negative likelihood ratio of 0.31 (0.23 to 0.41) for the diagnosis of acute cholecystitis. Emergency physician-performed point-of-care ultrasound has high specificity and moderate sensitivity for the diagnosis of acute cholecystitis in patients with clinical suspicion. This review supports the use of emergency physician-performed point-of-care ultrasound to rule in a diagnosis of acute cholecystitis in the emergency department, which may help expedite definitive management.