Articles Tagged With:
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Non-Traumatic Ocular Emergencies
Evaluating eye-related complaints in the ED requires a good understanding of the anatomy and potential implications of failure to treat. Although most ED presentations are nonemergent, it is important that the emergency physician identify the emergent presentations and manage them promptly to prevent potential vision loss.
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First Case of Hepatitis A Transmission by Transplant
Though hepatitis A virus (HAV) has spread via blood transfusion, the virus had never transmitted from a transplant patient. Now, through a circuitous chain of events, it has. Indeed, HAV spread from an organ donor to the transplant recipient, and then to three nurses providing post-transplant care, the CDC reports.1
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Drugs, Death, and Infectious Diseases
The intersection of the national opioid epidemic and infection control has reached some strange and critical crossroads, from drug-diverting healthcare workers infecting patients to addicted admissions infecting themselves by injecting through their IV lines. Now, we have another twist: the distinct possibility that infectious diseases could be masking some of the national death toll of opioids.
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Wild, Wild West: Clinic Outbreak Breaks All the Rules
How egregious were the infection control violations in an outbreak in a New York City outpatient oncology clinic? Three patients died and investigators agreed it could have been much worse. The staggering array of breaks in basic practice prompted investigator Joel Ackelsberg, MD, MPH, to dub the outbreak “the wild, wild west.”
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Mysterious Paralysis Cases Continue in Children
A cryptic polio-like illness of unknown etiology is increasing, causing more severe symptoms in younger patients than when it first emerged in 2014, a CDC investigator reports.
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Emerging Candida auris Spreading in Healthcare Outbreaks
Candida auris causes high mortality, can transmit to patients on the hands of healthcare workers, persists in the environment, and can colonize people who then serve as a reservoir for outbreaks.
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Predicting Electrical Cardioversion Failure
A study of the 30-day success rate of electrical cardioversion of acute atrial fibrillation revealed five clinical predictors of recurrence. These were combined into a risk score that could be useful to avoid unnecessary cardioversions in the acute setting.
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Tolvaptan Fails to Improve Dyspnea in Acute Heart Failure
In patients hospitalized for acute heart failure, adding tolvaptan to furosemide lead to increased weight and fluid loss, but did not improve dyspnea at 24 hours.
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Restricting Fluoroquinolone Use Reduces CDI More Than Infection Control Methods
An observational study from England showed that restricting fluoroquinolone use reduced incidence of Clostridium difficile infection more than would be predicted by improved infection control methods alone.
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Risk Factors for Hospital Readmissions Ending in Death or Transition to Hospice
In this retrospective cohort study, multiple factors were identified during initial hospitalization, including sepsis and shock, that were associated with a hospital readmission within 30 days resulting in death or transition to hospice. Infection was a frequent cause for readmissions that ended in death.