Articles: emergency-department.
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Extended periods awaiting an inpatient bed in the emergency department (ED) may exacerbate the state of patients with acute psychiatric illness, increasing the time it takes to stabilise their acute problem in hospital. Therefore, we assessed the association between boarding time and hospital length of stay for psychiatric patients. ⋯ Boarding in the ED was associated with a high probability of increasing the hospital length of stay for psychiatric patients; however, the absolute increase is minimal. Although slight, this signal for longer length of stay may be a sign of increased morbidity for psychiatric patients held in the ED.
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Review
Impact of COVID-19 on emergency department management of stroke and STEMI. A narrative review.
The novel coronavirus of 2019 (COVID-19) has resulted in a global pandemic; COVID-19 has resulted in significant challenges in the delivery of healthcare, including emergency management of multiple diagnoses, such as stroke and ST-segment myocardial infarction (STEMI). The aim of this study was to identify the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on emergency department care of stroke and STEMI patients. ⋯ Our analysis, using a narrative review format, indicates that there was not a significant change in time required for key interventions for stroke and STEMI emergent management, including imaging (door-to-CT), tPA administration (door-to-needle), angiographic reperfusion (door-to-puncture), and percutaneous coronary intervention (door-to-balloon). Potential future areas of investigation include how emergency department (ED) stroke and STEMI care has adapted in response to different COVID-19 variants and stages of the pandemic, as well as identifying strategies used by EDs that were successful in providing effective emergency care in the face of the pandemic.
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Pediatric emergency care · Jul 2022
Pediatric Softball Injuries Presenting to Emergency Departments.
This study sought to characterize the mechanisms of injury responsible for common softball-related injuries in recent years. ⋯ Being hit by the ball was the most common mechanism of injury, especially in the head/neck region, and shoulder/elbow injuries increase with athlete age. Coaches and leagues may consider mandating helmets for infielders and pitch counts for pitchers, especially among adolescent athletes.
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Sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including chlamydia, gonorrhea, and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) pose a significant health burden in adolescents. Many adolescents receiving care in the emergency department (ED) are in need of testing, regardless of their chief complaint. Our objective was to determine whether an electronic, risk-based STI screening program in our ED was associated with an increase in STI testing among at-risk adolescents. ⋯ Our program facilitated STI testing in the ED and identified many adolescents with STIs, even when their ED complaint was for unrelated reasons. More rigorous implementation is needed to determine the impact of deployment of ACASI to all eligible adolescents and addressing barriers to accepting STI testing recommendations.