Emergency Medicine - Adult and Pediatric
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Palliative Care Guidelines Call for Equipping Frontline Providers to Meet Growing Need
As the U.S. population ages, there is a growing need for clinicians skilled in primary palliative care. Such skills include the ability to assess for need, engage in advance care planning discussions, and provide appropriate care for symptom management that aligns with patients’ wishes. Considering the volume of patients who access care through EDs annually, experts note emergency clinicians often are in position to provide primary palliative care to those with serious or life-threatening conditions.
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A More Effective Approach for Managing Behavioral Health Emergencies
Often, law enforcement officers and EMS crews are dispatched to the scenes of behavioral health emergencies. EMS might transport these patients to the ED. Others might be taken to jail. But in recent years, stakeholders in Dallas have looked closer at these scenarios. At a time when resources are stretched thin, hospital staff, police officers, and communities all are asking questions.
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Neurology Groups Update Position on Stroke and Informed Consent
Experts provide updated ethical guidance on decision-making capacity, emergency treatment, and clinical research.
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Military Medical Treatment Facilities Could Fill Some Gaps in Maternal Care
Women living in rural and underserved areas could benefit.
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Diagnosing and Managing Pediatric Foreign Body Ingestions: Part I
Pediatric foreign body ingestion comes with a dichotomous presentation to the ED — the child in extremis with a clear need for immediate intervention vs. the well-appearing child with unknown ingestion. This creates a challenge for the emergency medicine provider to use a combination of history, physical examination, different imaging modalities, and overall clinical picture to verify ingestion over aspiration and, furthermore, to determine whether there is any need for immediate intervention. The decision-making tree surrounding foreign body ingestion changes based on time course, type of object, location in the gastrointestinal tract, and size. Therefore, a regimented and practical approach to foreign body ingestions is warranted.
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The Latest on COVID-19 Vaccination
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an infodemic of misinformation affecting the ability of the general public to make good decisions about vaccination. Vaccine hesitancy is a byproduct of this infodemic. After reviewing the current available data, the vaccines have an excellent risk/benefit ratio.
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Artificial Intelligence Documentation Assistant Shows Promise for Healthcare Charting
Advocates are seeking relief for physicians overburdened with too many administrative tasks.
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ED Is Focus of Reduction in Sepsis-Related Mortality
Using a sepsis alert, combined with nursing protocols and physician order set usage, can improve core measure compliance and related mortality rates.
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Rapid-Access Psychiatry Encounter Might Reduce ED Use Rate
The lack of access to outpatient psychiatric care could contribute to the medical emergencies seen in EDs. Most emergency providers are well aware of the shortage of available mental healthcare providers in both inpatient and outpatient settings.
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Damages, Causation Are Obstacles in Abdominal Pain Med/Mal Cases
Many older ED patients are living with a host of preexisting conditions, which, coupled with the patient’s age, argue against investing the needed time and money to pursue a malpractice claim. Even if there is clear liability and causation, the case of misdiagnosed abdominal pain still might not be worth pursuing from a financial standpoint.