Browse Emergency Articles by Topic

Missed STEMI Suit Could Succeed if Plaintiff’s Expert Sees No ECG, Troponins, or Cardiology Consult

When a plaintiff attorney’s expert reviews the ED medical records on a potential missed ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) case, certain “smoking guns” immediately become apparent.

Transient Ischemic Attack

Recent research on transient ischemic attacks (TIA) has changed how emergency medicine providers evaluate and manage this sometimes difficult diagnosis. This article provides readers with current information and relevant studies pertaining to TIAs.

Intimate Partner Violence

Domestic violence and abuse is a national and global healthcare problem with massive consequences, affecting men, women, and children. Awareness, recognition, and resource allocation, in addition to trauma management, is an important aspect of emergent care of the trauma patient possibly injured in a domestic violence incident.

Pioneering Community Hospitals Address Opioid Epidemic

Community hospitals work with fewer resources than large, academic medical centers. However, these facilities can create effective treatment programs for patients with opioid use disorder (OUD). In fact, experts state that when patients with OUD present to the ED, or are admitted as inpatients, there is a powerful opportunity to place them on the road to recovery. Still, clinicians in these settings need to engage with their leaders to set up a positive path.

Paramedics, Screening Protocols, and Involuntary Psychiatric Holds

While there is no simple solution to ED crowding caused by a backup of patients with behavioral health concerns, a new study offers intriguing results on what could be part of the answer for at least some hospitals.

Critical Access Hospital EDs Reap Savings by Using Advanced Practice Providers, Virtual Physicians

Thanks in part to a little-noticed policy shift by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, there is fresh evidence that telemedicine can offer rural hospitals a cost-effective solution to the serious challenges they face in trying to recruit and retain physicians to cover their EDs. Further, while efforts to build effective telemedicine networks in the emergency medicine arena have struggled, one network based in Sioux Falls, SD, is in expansion mode, with 185 hospitals in 13 states already hooked up to the network’s hub.

Prehospital Providers Play Starring Role in Push to Regionalize Care of STEMI Patients

A push to regionalize the care and treatment of patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) gains steam. Investigators documented improved time to treatment results and a significant decline in mortality among patients treated at sites adopting a regionalized approach. The data come from the Regional Systems Accelerator-2 project in which key stakeholders in 12 regions pledged to work together to improve STEMI care.

Making Sense of Delirium in the Emergency Department

Delirium is a complex disorder marked by the acute onset of mental status change with an associated fluctuating course. Despite the fact that delirium is a common clinical entity in elderly hospitalized patients, the condition may present in any patient regardless of medical comorbidities. Recognition within the emergency setting is becoming increasingly important, as the diagnosis frequently is missed.

Early Extubation to Noninvasive Ventilation Does Not Reduce Time to Liberation From All Mechanical Ventilation

In this multicenter, randomized, open-label trial of patients who failed a spontaneous breathing trial, those who were extubated to noninvasive ventilation did not have a shorter time to liberation from any form of mechanical ventilation compared to those who were randomized to protocolized standard weaning.

Thiamine for Septic Shock: Is There a Benefit?

Based on a retrospective review, septic shock patients who were administered thiamine within 24 hours of admission showed improved lactate clearance and reduced 28-day mortality.