Articles: emergency-department.
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Pediatric emergency care · Mar 2024
Utilization of Transport Data to Decrease Unnecessarily Repeated Laboratory Tests.
In pediatric patients being transported for management of diabetic ketoacidosis, laboratory tests will frequently be trended throughout transportation and subsequently immediately repeated upon arrival to a particular institution. These laboratory tests may not add value to a patient's care trajectory and therefore may be unnecessary. This study examines differences between pH, sodium, potassium, chloride, bicarbonate, and glucose levels drawn during transportation and those drawn at our home institution immediately upon arrival to determine if repeating those laboratory tests upon arrival to the emergency department serves any purpose in adding to patient care. ⋯ Although there were some statistically significant differences between the laboratory value sets, it is arguable whether there are any clinically significant differences between them.Based on our failure to show a clinically significant difference between laboratory values drawn during transportation and those drawn immediately upon presentation to the institution, repeating laboratory draws after transportation do not add value to a patient's care trajectory. We should therefore rely on the laboratory values that were drawn from our transportation teams as part of the continuum of patient care.
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Observational Study
The role of lactate-to-albumin ratio to predict 30-day risk of death in patients with sepsis in the emergency department: a decision tree analysis.
Accurately estimating the prognosis of septic patients on arrival in the emergency department (ED) is clinically challenging. The lactate-to-albumin ratio (LAR) has recently been proposed to improve the predictive performance of septic patients admitted to the ICU. ⋯ The LAR can be used as an index to better predict the 30-day risk of death in septic patients.
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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 Multicenter Study
Diagnostic Accuracy of Point-of-Care Ultrasound Versus Radiographic Imaging for Pediatric Distal Forearm Fractures: A Randomized Controlled Trial.
In patients aged 5 to 15 years with a clinically nondeformed distal forearm injury presenting to the emergency department (ED), we examined whether point-of-care ultrasound or radiographic imaging had better diagnostic accuracy, with the reference diagnosis determined by an expert panel review. ⋯ In children and adolescents presenting to the ED with a clinically nondeformed distal forearm injury, clinician-performed (acquired and interpreted) point-of-care ultrasound more accurately identified the correct diagnosis than clinician-interpreted radiographic imaging.