Articles: emergency-services.
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Emerg. Med. Clin. North Am. · May 1994
ReviewEmergency department response to hazardous materials incidents.
Emergency physicians must stay alert to situations that involve toxic chemical exposures. An appropriate response to victims of chemical contamination is important for the victim's outcome and the safety of hospital personnel. ⋯ Chemical contamination may affect one or hundreds of victims. Community planning is essential for an effective response to toxic chemical accidents (Haz-Mat).
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A high proportion of patients admitted to a medical emergency department due to chest pain are directly sent home, since the initial suspicion of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) can be quickly ruled out. ⋯ Patients who came to a medical emergency department due to chest pain, and who were sent home, had a low risk of death and development of infarction during the following year. Survivors after 1 year do, however, more frequently report emotional and psychosomatic symptoms than survivors of AMI.
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The overcrowding of emergency departments (EDs) with inpatients results in an increased average inpatient length of stay; therefore, overcrowded hospitals have increased costs per patient. All admissions through the ED to our institution for 1988, 1989, and 1990 were reviewed. These admissions were analyzed based on whether they had spent less than 1 day or more than 1 day in the ED, after they had been admitted to the hospital and were waiting for a bed assignment. ⋯ In 1989, 32% of admissions via the ED remained in the ED for more than 1 day and had a 13% increase in total hospital length of stay. In 1990, 25% of admissions via the ED spent more than 1 day in the ED and had a 10% increase in total hospital length of stay. Inpatients who remained in the ED after admission had a greater average length of stay than those who were promptly transferred to inpatient units.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)