Articles: emergency-services.
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Emerg Med Australas · Jun 2024
Infectious and sepsis presentations to, and hospital admissions from emergency departments in Victoria, Australia.
To investigate the frequency and outcomes of adult infectious and sepsis presentations to, and hospital admissions from, Emergency Departments (EDs) in Victoria, Australia. ⋯ Infections and sepsis are common causes of presentation to, and admission from the ED in Victoria. Such patients experience higher mortality than non-infectious patients, even after adjusting for age. There is a need to identify modifiable factors contributing to these outcomes.
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When advance care plans are not communicated or goals are in conflict, significant family and clinician distress may result. The distress is especially high when potentially nongoal concordant care is expected by surrogates in the emergency department (ED). To demonstrate the effect of off-hour, phone consultations by palliative care clinicians in reducing the family and clinician distress when nongoal concordant care is expected in the ED. A partnership between palliative care and emergency medicine can decrease the burden of decision making and provide opportunities for modeling a goals-of-care discussion by experts in this important procedure.
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To quantify and analyze mortality in patients who die within 30 days of discharge home from a hospital emergency department (ED). ⋯ Early deaths after discharge home from a hospital ED occured in patients of advanced age with concomitant conditions. The main clinical settings were neoplastic and cardiovascular disease. Seven-day and 30-day mortality rates directly related to the emergency visit were low. Adverse events related to ED care played a role in about a quarter of the deaths after discharge.