Emergency Medicine - Adult and Pediatric
RSSArticles
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Diagnosing, Differentiating, and Managing Status Epilepticus
Pediatric seizures are a common acute care visit. Recognizing seizures, including the more subtle presentations, is critical for instituting appropriate, timely treatment to improve patient care. An awareness of a stepwise approach to seizure management will assist providers and optimize outcomes.
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Ruptured Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms
Recently the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) created a quality measure, just adopted by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, that suggests early ultrasound for patients presenting with new abdominal or back pain and hypotension who have not been screened for an abdominal aneurysm at age 55-65 years or older.
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Tachycardia in the Emergency Department: Part II
This issue completes the two-part series on tachycardia. This issue will finish the discussion of additional causes of tachycardia, address management, and conclude by covering some challenging issues with this arrhythmia.
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Pediatric Hernias: Diagnosis and Management
Hernias are a common condition encountered by emergency providers and can be overlooked if the genitourinary system is not included in the evaluation of every child with vomiting or abdominal pain. Incarcerated hernias that are not identified in a timely fashion can have devastating consequences for a child. The authors provide an anatomical review, along with diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to pediatric hernias.
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Poll: Many Americans Delay Emergency Care Over Boarding Concerns
A survey by the American College of Emergency Physicians reveals nearly half of U.S. adults worry they will have to wait many hours before admission or transfer.
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Tachycardia in the Emergency Department: Part I
This issue is the first of a two-part discussion of tachycardia, the most common rhythm abnormality seen in the emergency department. Part I will discuss the epidemiology, etiology, and characteristics of the different tachycardic arrhythmias. Part II will discuss conditions affecting other organ systems that can produce tachycardia, then finish by reviewing the assessment and management of these patients. We hope these two issues will be useful to your clinical practice.
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Is ED Patient Rude or Insulting? Risk Mitigation Needed
Patients who behave in this manner could be at risk for a missed diagnosis caused by poor communication with the treatment team. They may be so difficult to tolerate that they receive less attention and nursing care than they would have otherwise. The best approach is to recognize the risks with these types of patients and mitigate them.
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Irritable Patient Behavior Affects Emergency Nursing Assessments
For encounters during which the patient exhibited irritable behavior, nurses reported more anger and unease. They also judged the patients as likely to exaggerate pain, as poorer historians, and less likely to cooperate and return to work and recover. In their documentation, nurses were more likely to use negative descriptions of patients and more likely to omit information, such as whether tests were ordered.
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Onsite Pharmacies Can Boost Medication Access to Patients, Surrounding Communities
There are some other possible workarounds, such as leveraging electronic prescribing from the ED so providers will know quickly whether medications are available in a specific outpatient pharmacy, administering first antibiotic doses in the ED, and providing a few days’ worth of medication to patients about to be discharged.
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EDs Can Make Discharges Against Medical Advice Safer
Recognizing a discharge as higher risk could encourage physicians and care providers to engage in risk assessment and risk reduction.