Is there a better way for ED managers to stay on top of flu outbreaks and the corresponding surges in patient volume?
With a national shortage of neurologists, it is impossible for all hospital EDs to have neurology specialty expertise on site whenever patients with symptoms of stroke present for care.
As the baby boomers become older adults, we will see a rapid rise not only in the older population, but also an increase in older patients. While older adults accounted for 13% of the population in the year 2000, by 2030 they will be at least 20% of the population, or almost 71 million.
Recent clinical trials utilizing intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) to quantify coronary artery plaque burden have demonstrated that statin therapy has the potential to arrest the progression of coronary artery disease, and even to effect a small amount of plaque regression. Rosuvastatin is more effective than atorvastatin in reducing low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and increasing high-density lipoprotein (HDL) levels. Whether this translates into more effective plaque regression is not known. Accordingly, Nicholls and colleagues performed a large, multicenter clinical trial to compare the effects of high-dose atorvastatin vs high-dose rosuvastatin on coronary artery plaque burden.
Complete upper airway obstruction is a rare complication of disease entities in the pediatric patient population; however, it needs to remain high on the differential diagnosis because it can abruptly become a life or death scenario. Respiratory compromise has long been known to be the leading cause of cardiac arrest in children.
