Waterslundqvist8597
The purpose of this study is to determine the sensitivity and specificity of novice emergency physician-performed point-of-care ultrasound diagnosis of papilledema using optic nerve sheath diameter (ONSD) against ophthalmologist-performed dilated fundoscopy. This observational study retrospectively analyzed results of ultrasound-measured ONSD of emergency department (ED) patients with suspected intracranial hypertension from a period spanning June 2014 to October 2017.
This study concerns a population of ED patients at a large, tertiary-care urban academic medical center from June 2014 to October 2017 over the age of 18 years with primary vision complaints evaluated for papilledema both by an emergency physician-performed ultrasound and an ophthalmologist-performed fundoscopic examination during their ED stay. Sensitivity and specificity of emergency physician-performed ultrasound measurement of optic nerve sheath diameter in the diagnosis of papilledema were primary outcomes for this study.
A total of 206 individual patients (male 49%, female 51%; median age 45 years) were included in the study with a total of 212 patient encounters. Calculated sensitivity for the ocular ultrasound examination performed by emergency physicians to diagnose papilledema was 46.9% (95% confidence interval [CI], 32.5% to 61.7%), and specificity was 87.0% (95% CI, 82.8% to 90.5%). Positive predictive value and negative predictive value were calculated to be 35.4% (95% CI, 23.9% to 48.2%) and 91.5% (95% CI, 87.8% to 94.4%), respectively.
Sonographic measurement of ONSD by emergency physicians has low sensitivity but high specificity for detection of papilledema compared to ophthalmologist-conducted fundoscopy.
Sonographic measurement of ONSD by emergency physicians has low sensitivity but high specificity for detection of papilledema compared to ophthalmologist-conducted fundoscopy.
To evaluate the impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on emergency medical services (EMS) use for time-sensitive medical conditions. We examined EMS use for cardiac arrest, stroke, and other cardiac emergencies across Massachusetts during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, evaluating their relationship to statewide COVID-19 incidence and a statewide emergency declaration.
A retrospective analysis of all EMS calls between February 15 and May 15, 2020 and the same time period for 2019. EMS call volumes were compared before and after March 10, the date of a statewide emergency declaration.
A total of 408,758 calls were analyzed, of which 49,405 (12.1%) represented stroke, cardiac arrest, or other cardiac emergencies. Average call volume before March 10 was similar in both years but decreased significantly after March 10, 2020 by 18.7% (
<0.001). Compared to 2019, there were 35.6% fewer calls for cardiac emergencies after March 10, 2020 (153.6 vs 238.4 calls/day,
<0.001) and 12.3% fewer calust be taken to clearly inform the public that immediate emergency care for time-sensitive conditions remains imperative.
Team leadership facilitates teamwork and is important to patient care. It is unknown whether physician gender-based differences in team leadership exist. The objective of this study was to assess and compare team leadership and patient care in trauma resuscitations led by male and female physicians.
We performed a secondary analysis of data from a larger randomized controlled trial using video recordings of emergency department trauma resuscitations at a Level 1 trauma center from April 2016 to December 2017. Subjects included emergency medicine and surgery residents functioning as trauma team leaders. Eligible resuscitations included adult patients meeting institutional trauma activation criteria. Two video-recorded observations for each participant were coded for team leadership quality and patient care by 2 sets of raters. Raters were balanced with regard to gender and were blinded to study hypotheses. We used Bayesian regression to determine whether our data supported gender-based advantages in team leadership.
A total of 60 participants and 120 video recorded observations were included. The modal relationship between gender and team leadership (β=0.94, 95% highest density interval [HDI], -.68 to 2.52) and gender and patient care (β=2.42, 95% HDI, -2.03 to 6.78) revealed a weak positive effect for female leaders on both outcomes. Gender-based advantages to team leadership and clinical care were not conclusively supported or refuted, with the exception of rejecting a strong male advantage to team leadership.
We prospectively measured team leadership and clinical care during patient care. Our findings do not support differences in trauma resuscitation team leadership or clinical care based on the gender of the team leader.
We prospectively measured team leadership and clinical care during patient care. Our findings do not support differences in trauma resuscitation team leadership or clinical care based on the gender of the team leader.Opioid overdose is a very common cause of presentation to the emergency department (ED) in the United States every year, with an average of over 200 ED visits per 100,000 people in 2018. This case demonstrates a scenario with which few emergency physicians are familiar an inadvertent postoperative administration of intra-articular hydromorphone leading to delayed presentation for altered mental status. In this case a patient erroneously received 10 mg intra-articular hydromorphone immediately after right knee hemiarthroplasty. She was difficult to rouse for 6 hours postoperatively and required transport to the hospital via emergency medical services and administration of naloxone intravenously. After admission she was observed and no further doses of naloxone were required, though she did have prolonged somnolence even after naloxone administration. Her respiratory rate and other vitals remained stable for the duration of her hospitalization. selleck kinase inhibitor She was discharged after observation with no further ill effects.Objective Frequent emergency department (ED) users are heterogeneous. We aimed to identify subgroups and assess their mortality. Methods We identified patients ≥18 years with ≥1 ED visit in British Columbia from April 1, 2012 to March 31, 2015, and linked to hospitalization, physician billing, prescription, and mortality data. Frequent users were the top 10% of patients by ED visits. We employed cluster analysis to identify frequent user subgroups. We assessed 365-day mortality using Kaplan-Meier curves and conducted Cox regressions to assess mortality risk factors within subgroups. Results We identified 4 subgroups. Subgroup 1 ("Elderly") had median age 77 years (interquartile range [IQR] 66-85), 5 visits/year (IQR 4-6), median 8 prescription medications (IQR 5-11), and 24.7% mortality. Subgroup 2 ("Mental Health and Alcohol Use") had median age 48 years (IQR 34-61), 13 visits/year (IQR 10-16), and 12.3% mortality. They made a median 31 general practitioner visits (IQR 19-51); however, only 23.7% received a majority of services from 1 primary care physician.