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Specialty: Emergency Medicine
Condition: Pain
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Total 103 results found since Jan 2013.
A Serious Diagnosis Lacking Common Symptoms
BY JENNIFER TUONG; IVAN KHARCHENKO; JEAN LUC AGARD; & AHMED RAZIUDDIN, MDA 65-year-old man who had HIV well-controlled with highly active antiretroviral therapy, hypertension, sciatica, and restless leg syndrome presented to the emergency department with left leg pain. He also had had chemotherapy and radiation for anal cancer. The patient said the pain had started 45 minutes earlier when he was sitting on the toilet.He described the pain as sore in quality and 10/10 on the pain scale. He reported that it had started in his lower back and radiated to his left leg. He said he had had no trauma or weakness to the regi...
Source: The Case Files - May 28, 2019 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: research
Missed Serious Neurologic Conditions in Emergency Department Patients Discharged With Nonspecific Diagnoses of Headache or Back Pain
ConclusionA small proportion of ED patients discharged with nonspecific diagnoses of headache or back pain returned with a serious neurologic condition or inhospital death within 30 days.
Source: Annals of Emergency Medicine - February 22, 2019 Category: Emergency Medicine Source Type: research
Using Benchmark Data as a Launching Point for Quality Improvement in EMS
EMS agencies strive to provide the best possible care and contribute to positive patient outcomes. To ensure a high level of care, many agencies implement quality improvement programs; choosing a place to start for a quality improvement initiative, however, can seem overwhelming, with so many important conditions like cardiac arrest, sepsis, stroke, overdoses, etc. With limited time and resources, it’s necessary to concentrate efforts on measures that matter and are likely to make an impact.
A great place to start with quality improvement efforts is where the gold standard is known and the frequency of events isn’t rar...
Source: JEMS Operations - February 20, 2019 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Remle Crowe, PhD, NREMT Tags: Exclusive Articles Operations Top Story Source Type: news
Not Just Acid Reflux: The Need to Think Worst First
Discussion
Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States.1 This year, 720,000 Americans will have a new coronary event—defined as first hospitalized myocardial infarction (MI) or coronary heart disease death—and around 335,000 will have a recurrent event. Approximately 35% of people who experience a coronary event in a given year and around 14% of patients who have an acute coronary syndrome will die from it.1 Roughly 60% of patients with an acute coronary syndrome are transported to the emergency department via ambulance.2–4.
Up to one-third of patients experiencing an MI may not complain of chest...
Source: JEMS Special Topics - January 13, 2019 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Stephen Sanko, MD, FACEP Tags: Exclusive Articles Cardiac & Resuscitation Source Type: news
Clinical Performance Measures that Matter —Are You Ready?
Conclusion
The future will belong to those who can prove value. The use of a clinical performance dashboard and comparisons to national data will help to ensure that when the payers come knocking on our doors looking for "proof" that what we do enhances patient care and improves patient outcome, we’ll have an answer!
This is the first in a yearlong series of articles developed by the Academy of International Mobile Healthcare Integration (AIMHI).The AIMHI article series is developed in partnership with JEMS to help educate EMS agencies on the hallmarks and attributes of high-performance/high-value EMS system de...
Source: JEMS Special Topics - December 11, 2018 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Wayne C. Harbour, NRP Tags: Exclusive Articles Operations Administration and Leadership Source Type: news
Fool Me Once: An Uncommon Presentation of PE
BY FREDDIE IRIZARRY-DELGADO; VAROON KAKAIYA; & AHMED RAZIUDDIN, MDAn 86-year-old African-American woman was brought to the ED by her daughter after two days of nutritional neglect, abdominal pain, and altered mental status. Her daughter said her mother felt lightheaded, appeared dehydrated, and vomited nonbilious watery fluid once. The patient had a history of diabetes mellitus type 2, DVT/PE, dementia, and early signs of parkinsonism.Her vital signs were remarkable only for tachypnea (24 bpm). Her troponin I was markedly elevated at 1.7 ng/mL. A D-dimer was ordered because of her history of unprovoked DVT/PE, and i...
Source: The Case Files - November 27, 2018 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: research
What Is the Specificity of the Aortic Dissection Detection Risk Score in a Low ‐prevalence Population?
ConclusionsOur study confirms that in North America the prevalence of AAS in those undergoing advanced imaging is low. The ADD ‐RS in this population has a low specificity. A lack of defined inclusion criteria and a low specificity limits the application of this rule in practice.
Source: Academic Emergency Medicine - November 20, 2018 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Robert Ohle,
Omar Anjum,
Helena Bleeker,
Sarah McIsaac,
Brian C. Hiestand Tags: Original Contribution Source Type: research
Ditch the Machine to Improve Accuracy in Blood Pressure Measurement and Diagnostics
Conclusion
For the patient in this case, the decision to forego the convenience of a machine in favor of the skills of a knowledgeable paramedic was lifesaving. Much like the comparison often drawn between the old-fashioned barbell and more sophisticated exercise machines, newer, more complex, and more expensive might make a process more comfortable, but doesn’t always equate to superior results.
As we surrender more and more of our hands-on skills to the ease of automated technology, we risk more than the loss of the aptitudes that form the foundation of sound patient assessment—we place our patients in jeopardy of mi...
Source: JEMS Special Topics - October 24, 2018 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Mark Rock, NRP Tags: Exclusive Articles Cardiac & Resuscitation Source Type: news
What is the specificity of the aortic dissection detection risk score in a low prevalence population?
CONCLUSIONS: Our study confirms that in North America the prevalence of AAS in those undergoing advanced imaging is low. The ADD-RS in this population has a low specificity. A lack of defined inclusion criteria and a low specificity limits the application of this rule in practice. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
PMID: 30311318 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Accident and Emergency Nursing - October 12, 2018 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Ohle R, Anjum O, Bleeker H, McIsaac S Tags: Acad Emerg Med Source Type: research
A Pregnancy Complication to Look out for even after Pregnancy
BY GREGORY TAYLOR, DO, & SHERIF G. EL-ALAYLI, DOA 30-year-old G5P3 presented to the ED with bilateral lower-extremity edema and headache for three days. She presented one week after an uncomplicated full-term vaginal delivery with an unremarkable pregnancy course and no prior requirement for antihypertensive therapy. The headache was described as achy to sharp, with associated photophobia. She also noted occasional vaginal spotting, which was common a few weeks after delivery. She denied any chest pain, shortness of breath, nausea or vomiting, abdominal pain, or any other symptoms. She admitted to occasional mild cr...
Source: The Case Files - August 28, 2018 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: research
Looking Past Dementia Reveals Hidden Life Threats
Conclusion
Acute delirium is commonly underdiagnosed, and can be masked by chronic alterations in cognition and mentation. Delirium has many causes, and can be assessed using the acronym DELIRIUM. The most common presentations suggesting delirium over dementia are short-term memory loss, rapid fluctuation in condition, acute alteration, and a condition present that may be responsible for delirium.
Management includes searching for causes of acute alteration in mental status, negating environmental factors of delirium, and—only when necessary—reducing the patient’s threat to themselves or providers by using butyrophen...
Source: JEMS Special Topics - August 13, 2018 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Joseph K. Mesches, NRP, FP-C Tags: Exclusive Articles Patient Care Source Type: news
Transporting Patients to Appropriate Receiving Destinations
Conclusion
EMS is in a position to be the initiator of specialty center destination. In large cities with multiple hospitals, EMS should transport patients to the closest, most appropriate facility based on patient condition, even if this requires passing a closer facility. Where there are hospitals with multiple specialty services, EMS may be asked to activate a specific team, such as the stroke or cardiac team.
In rural communities, EMS can communicate with the local hospital and by letting the hospital know of patient condition, help start the interfacility transport process from the field....
Source: JEMS Special Topics - July 19, 2018 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Dennis Edgerly, MEd, EMT-P Tags: Exclusive Articles Columns Operations Source Type: news
A True Hematologic Emergency
BY GREGORY TAYLOR, DO, & JACKLYN MCPARLANE, DOA 33-year-old woman with a past medical history of sickle cell SS presented to the emergency department with chest pain, difficulty breathing, and a cough for two days. Her chest pain was diffuse, without radiation, and partially reproducible. Her cough was nonproductive, and she also reported fever and chills.The patient noted this was different from her normal back and leg pain from past sickle cell crises. She was following up with a sickle cell specialist, and was compliant with her hydroxyurea treatment.Her temperature was 102.8°F, blood pressure was 94/60 mm...
Source: The Case Files - June 26, 2018 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: research
Prehospital Assessment for Stroke Isn ’t Perfect
Prehospital assessment tools for neurological deficits aren’t perfect
An approximately 30-year-old male answers the door to let you and your partner into the house you’ve been called to. Hank introduces himself and thanks you for coming, quickly adding that he’s concerned about his mother who’s “acting weird.”
Hank tells you he stopped by his mom’s house for lunch and found her using paper plates to heat food on the stove. He stopped her before the plate ignited. His mother seemed confused and so he called 9-1-1.
Patient Assessment
Margaret, Hank’s 53-year-old mother, appears to be in good healt...
Source: JEMS Patient Care - May 1, 2018 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Dennis Edgerly, EMT-P Tags: Patient Care Cardiac & Resuscitation Columns Source Type: news
