Articles

An update on emergency care and emergency medicine in Russia

Russia’s national healthcare system is undergoing significant changes. Those changes which affect healthcare financing are particularly vital. As has often been the case in other nations, the emergency care fi...

Authors: Anthony Rodigin

Ventilation monitoring for severe pediatric traumatic brain injury during interfacility transport

Ventilation monitoring practice for intubated pediatric patients with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) during interfacility transport (IFT) has not been well documented. We describe the difference of practi...

Authors: Gregory Hansen and Jeff K. Vallance

Comment on Alquraini et al.: reliability of Canadian Emergency Department Triage and Acuity Scale (CTAS) in Saudi Arabia

It is very common to examine reliability of triage scales using (weighted) kappa statistics. The point is that weighted kappa has grossly underestimated disagreements by one category and put more emphasis on e...

Authors: Amir Mirhaghi

Emergency department quality and safety indicators in resource-limited settings: an environmental survey

As global emergency care grows, practical and effective performance measures are needed to ensure high quality care. Our objective was to systematically catalog and classify metrics that have been used to meas...

Authors: Emily L. Aaronson, Regan H. Marsh, Moytrayee Guha, Jeremiah D. Schuur and Shada A. Rouhani

Promoting an obesity education program among minority patients in a single urban pediatric Emergency Department (ED)

The purpose of this study was to assess the feasibility of the Emergency Department (ED) as a place for obesity education and to evaluate its impact on patient’s lifestyle modification.

Authors: Jordana J. Haber, Sukshant Atti, Linda M. Gerber and Muhammad Waseem

Does temporary location of ambulances (“fluid deployment”) affect response times and patient outcome?

 The objective of this paper is to evaluate the response times and outcome of patients in two groups of patients attended by permanently (PS) and temporarily stationed ambulances (TS) (fluid deployment).

Authors: Mahmoudreza Peyravi, Soheila Khodakarim, Per Örtenwall and Amir Khorram-Manesh

Intrapericardial fibrinolysis in purulent pericarditis—case report

Purulent pericarditis (PP) continues to result in a very serious prognosis and high mortality. The most serious complication of pericarditis is constriction. Intrapericardial administration of fibrinolytic age...

Authors: Małgorzata Dybowska, Barbara Kazanecka, Paweł Kuca, Janusz Burakowski, Cezary Czajka, Franciszek Grzegorczyk, Renata Gralec and Witold Tomkowski

Public awareness of the EMS system in Western Saudi Arabia: identifying the weakest link

The City of Jeddah is the major and largest city in the Western Region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Covering a total area of 748 km2. The Saudi Red Crescent Organization (SRC) makes up the major bulk ...

Authors: A F Hamam, M H Bagis, K AlJohani and A H Tashkandi

Dutch senior medical students and disaster medicine: a national survey

Medical students have been deployed in victim care of several disasters throughout history. They are corner stones in first-line care in recent pandemic planning. Furthermore, every physician and senior medica...

Authors: Luc J. M. Mortelmans, Stef J. M. Bouman, Menno I. Gaakeer, Greet Dieltiens, Kurt Anseeuw and Marc B. Sabbe

Hemorrhagic shock from breast blunt trauma

Seat belt use has been associated with decreased life-threatening thoracic injuries. However, there has been an increase in soft-tissue injuries such as breast trauma.

Authors: Bryan Madden, Mayura Phadtare, Zeina Ayoub and Ralphe Bou Chebl

Unplanned 3-day re-attendance rate at Emergency Department (ED) and hospital’s bed occupancy rate (BOR)

Unplanned re-attendance at the Emergency Department (ED) is often monitored as a quality indicator of the care accorded to patients during their index ED visit. High bed occupancy rate (BOR) has been considere...

Authors: Yan Sun, Bee Hoon Heng, Seow Yian Tay and Kelvin Brian Tan

Sick-leave and help seeking among rescue workers after the terror attacks in Norway, 2011

Several studies have addressed psychological problems after terror attacks, especially among victims. Fewer have addressed possible health consequences among rescue workers involved with terror attacks. This s...

Authors: Astrid Gjerland, May Janne Botha Pedersen, Øivind Ekeberg and Laila Skogstad

Emergency department characteristics and capabilities in Bogotá, Colombia

Emergency departments (EDs) are a critical, yet heterogeneous, part of international emergency care. The National ED Inventories (NEDI) survey has been used in multiple countries as a standardized method to be...

Authors: Yury Bustos, Jenny Castro, Leana S. Wen, Ashley F. Sullivan, Dinah K. Chen and Carlos A. Camargo Jr.

Reliability of Canadian Emergency Department Triage and Acuity Scale (CTAS) in Saudi Arabia

The Canadian Emergency Department Triage and Acuity Scale (CTAS) is an integral part of the Canadian emergency medicine triaging system. There is growing interest and implementation of CTAS worldwide. However,...

Authors: Mustafa Alquraini, Emad Awad and Ra’ed Hijazi

An Indian pediatric emergency weight estimation tool: prospective adjustment of the Broselow tape

This study aims to remodel the Broselow Pediatric Emergency Tape for the Indian pediatric population. The Broselow tape overestimates the heights of the Indian pediatric population and remits inaccurate predic...

Authors: Farhad Asskaryar and Ravi Shankar

What's in a name? Upper extremity fracture eponyms (Part 1)

Eponymous extremity fractures are commonly encountered in the emergency setting. Correct eponym usage allows rapid, succinct communication of complex injuries. We will review both common and less frequently en...

Authors: Philip Kin-Wai Wong, Tarek N. Hanna, Waqas Shuaib, Stephen M. Sanders and Faisal Khosa

A prospective evaluation of indications for neurological consultation in the emergency department

Recognizing the diverse presentation of neurological conditions that emergency physicians encounter can be challenging, and management of these patients often requires consultation with a neurologist. Accurate...

Authors: Christopher K Hansen, Jonathan Fisher, Nina R Joyce and Jonathan A Edlow

What’s in a name? Lower extremity fracture eponyms (Part 2)

Eponymous extremity fractures are commonly encountered in the emergency setting. Correct eponym usage allows rapid, succinct communication of complex injuries. We review both common and less frequently encount...

Authors: Philip Kin-Wai Wong, Tarek N Hanna, Waqas Shuaib, Stephen M Sanders and Faisal Khosa

Trends in mortality associated with opening of a full-capacity public emergency department at the main tertiary-level hospital in Tanzania

Emergency medicine is an emerging specialty in Sub-Saharan Africa, and most hospitals do not have a fully functional emergency department (ED). We describe the mortality rates of the Muhimbili National Hospita...

Authors: Hendry R. Sawe, Juma A. Mfinanga, Victor Mwafongo, Teri A. Reynolds and Michael S. Runyon

The role of short-term volunteers in a global health capacity building effort: the Project HOPE-GEMC experience

Increasingly, medical students and practicing clinicians are showing interest in traveling to low-income settings to conduct research and engage in clinical rotations. While global health activities have the p...

Authors: Sarah D Rominski, Jamila Yakubu, Rockefeller A Oteng, Matt Peterson, Nadia Tagoe and Sue Anne Bell

Emergency medicine in Zanzibar: the effect of system changes in the emergency department

Mnazi Mmoja Hospital is a tertiary hospital in Zanzibar serving a population of 1.2 million. The emergency department was overcrowded and understaffed and the hospital management initiated a quality improvemen...

Authors: Oyvind Thomassen, Clifford Mann, Juma Salum Mbwana and Guttorm Brattebo

A structured assessment of emergency and acute care providers in Afghanistan during the current conflict

Afghanistan has struggled with several decades of well-documented conflict, increasing the importance of providing emergency services to its citizens. However, little is known about the country’s capacity to p...

Authors: Leeda Rashid, Edris Afzali, Ross Donaldson, Paul Lazar, Raghnild Bundesmann and Samra Rashid

State of emergency medicine in Rwanda 2015: an innovative trainee and trainer model

The 1994 Rwandan war and genocide left more than 1 million people dead; millions displaced; and the country’s economic, social, and health infrastructure destroyed. Despite remaining one of the poorest countri...

Authors: Gabin Mbanjumucyo, Elizabeth DeVos, Simon Pulfrey and Henry M Epino

Descriptive analysis of sepsis in a developing country

Most studies on sepsis were conducted in developed countries. The aim of this study is to report on a series of patients with sepsis in a tertiary hospital in a developing country.

Authors: Gilbert Abou Dagher, Mothana Saadeldine, Rana Bachir, Dina Zebian and Ralphe Bou Chebl

Prognostic performance of the Rapid Emergency Medicine Score (REMS) and Worthing Physiological Scoring system (WPS) in emergency department

The Rapid Emergency Medicine Score (REMS) and Worthing Physiological Scoring system (WPS) have been developed for predicting in-hospital mortality in nonsurgical emergency department (ED) patients. The prognos...

Authors: Duc T Ha, Tam Q Dang, Ngoc V Tran, Nhi Y Vo, Nguyen D Nguyen and Tuan V Nguyen

Burden of motorcycle-related injury in Malaysia

Road traffic injury (RTI) contributes to major morbidity and mortality in both developed and developing countries. Most of the injuries are caused by road-related injuries that specifically relate to motorcycl...

Authors: Nik Hisamuddin NA Rahman, Kamarul A Baharuddin and Syarifah Mastura S Mohamad

Traumatic lens dislocation

Point-of-care ultrasound has been widely used by clinicians, particularly those in emergency care settings.

Authors: Sangil Lee, Alison Hayward and Venkatesh R Bellamkonda

Erratum: Self-referred patients at the Emergency Department: patient characteristics, motivations, and willingness to make a copayment

Authors: Janneke de Valk, Elisabeth M Taal, Mariette S Nijhoff, Maren H Harms, Esther MM Van Lieshout, Peter Patka and Pleunie PM Rood

Managing the advanced cancer patient in the Australian emergency department environment: findings from a national survey of emergency department clinicians

Delivery of care to people with advanced cancer in the emergency department (ED) is complicated by competing service demands, workloads and physical design constraints. We explored emergency clinicians’ attitu...

Authors: Tracey J Weiland, Heather Lane, George A Jelinek, Claudia H Marck, Jennifer Weil, Mark Boughey and Jennifer Philip

Hypertensive emergency presenting as blurry vision in a patient with hypertensive chorioretinopathy

A 42-year-old man presented with 3 weeks of blurry vision in the right eye. His exam was significant for decreased vision in the right eye, diffuse retinopathy in both eyes, and serous retinal detachment in th...

Authors: Andrew W Stacey, Cemal B Sozener and Cagri G Besirli

Emergency medical services key performance measurement in Asian cities

One of the key principles in the recommended standards is that emergency medical service (EMS) providers should continuously monitor the quality and safety of their services. This requires service providers to...

Authors: Nik Hisamuddin Rahman, Hideharu Tanaka, Sang Do Shin, Yih Yng Ng, Thammapad Piyasuwankul, Chih-Hao Lin and Marcus Eng Hock Ong

Treatment outcome measures for randomized controlled trials of antibiotic treatment for acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections in the emergency department setting

Acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections (ABSSSIs), which include cellulitis, abscesses, and wound infections, are among the most commonly encountered conditions in emergency departments (EDs) intern...

Authors: Michael Quirke and Abel Wakai

Use of 4-factor prothrombin complex concentrate in the treatment of a gastrointestinal hemorrhage complicated by dabigatran

Target-specific oral anticoagulants (TSOACs) provide patients and healthcare providers with an alternative to vitamin K antagonists (VKA). The TSOACs are of similar or superior efficacy to warfarin, but unlike...

Authors: Terrance R McGovern, Justin J McNamee, Christopher Malabanan, Mohamed A Fouad and Nilesh Patel

State of emergency medicine in Colombia

Colombia is an upper-middle-income country with a population of 45 million people and one of the best national healthcare and medical education systems in South America. However, its widely diverse and difficu...

Authors: Christian Arbelaez and Andrés Patiño

A rare but important adverse event associated with adult voluntary medical male circumcision: prolonged bleeding

The majority of bleeding disorders worldwide are undiagnosed. Their moderate or severe forms are associated with considerable morbidity and mortality. In the advent of mass male circumcision for the partial pr...

Authors: Moses Galukande, Carol Kahendehe, Eria Buuza and Denis Bbaale Sekavuga

Framework for classifying compliance and medical immediacy among low-acuity presentations at an urban trauma center

This research offers two exploratory frameworks, one for medical regimen compliance and one for medical immediacy. The first classifies compliance awareness, compliance mitigation, and financial limitation for...

Authors: Joshua G Behr, Rafael Diaz, Barry Knapp and Cynthia Kratzke

Multi-organ dysfunction secondary to severe wasp envenomation

Wasp sting is not an uncommon incident. Around 56% to 94% of the population is stung at least once in their lifetime by a member of the order Hymenoptera which includes wasps, bees, and ants. The response to a...

Authors: Abraham M Ittyachen, Shanavas Abdulla, Rifzana Fathima Anwarsha and Bhavya S Kumar

‘Need-to-Know’ emergency medicine articles of 2014

Every year, thousands of articles are published in numerous medical journals that relate to the clinical practice of medicine. However, it is impossible for a single clinician to stay abreast of the literature...

Authors: Maite A Huis in ‘t Veld, Tu C Nguyen, Joseph P Martinez and Amal Mattu

A retrospective observational study of medical incident command and decision-making in the 2011 Oslo bombing

A core task for commanders in charge of an emergency response operation is to make decisions. The purposes of the study were to describe what critical decisions the ambulance commander and the medical commande...

Authors: Rune Rimstad and Stephen JM Sollid

Radiologic diagnostic procedures in severely injured patients - is only whole-body multislice computed tomography the answer?

Whole-body multislice computed tomography (WB-MSCT) has become an important diagnostic tool in the early treatment phase of severely injured patients. The optimal moment of WB-MSCT’s use during this treatment ...

Authors: Tobias Topp, Rolf Lefering, Caroline L Lopez, Steffen Ruchholtz, Wolfgang Ertel and Christian A Kühne

A pilot study to identify clinical predictors for wrist fractures in adult patients with acute wrist injury

To date, no clinical decision rules for acute wrist injuries are available. In the past, clinical decision rules for the knee, ankle and spine injuries have been developed and validated. Implementation of thes...

Authors: Anne Brants and Michiel A IJsseldijk

Establishing research priorities for patient safety in emergency medicine: a multidisciplinary consensus panel

Patient safety in the context of emergency medicine is a relatively new field of study. To date, no broad research agenda for patient safety in emergency medicine has been established. The objective of this st...

Authors: Amy C Plint, Antonia S Stang and Lisa A Calder

Isolated middle cerebral artery dissection: a systematic review

Acute stroke can be missed in the emergency department, particularly in younger patients and in those with more vague symptoms such as headache or dizziness. Cervicocephalic dissections are one group of etiolo...

Authors: Ganesh Asaithambi, Pradeepan Saravanapavan, Vaibhav Rastogi, Sheema Khan, Sharatchandra Bidari, Anna Y Khanna, Latha Ganti, Adnan I Qureshi and Vishnumurthy Shushrutha Hedna

A prospective evaluation of the contribution of ambient temperatures and transport times on infrared thermometry readings of intravenous fluids utilized in EMS patients

During cold weather months in much of the country, the temperatures in which prehospital care is delivered creates the potential for inadvertently cool intravenous fluids to be administered to patients during ...

Authors: Jeremy Joslin, Andrew Fisher, Susan Wojcik and Derek R Cooney

Trauma training course: innovative teaching models and methods for training health workers in active conflict zones of Eastern Myanmar

Myanmar has struggled through decades of internal conflict, which has negatively impacted the country’s health outcomes. Recent government changes have brought hope and reduced conflict. The ethnic minority gr...

Authors: Charles H Washington, Francis J Tyler, Julia Davis, Douglas R Shapiro, Adam Richards, Matthew Richard, Thomas J Lee, Taryn L Colton, Louis Berk, Loren Rauch, Eh Kalu Shwe Oo, Richard Hahn and Lawrence M Stock

Endotracheal intubation with a video-assisted semi-rigid fiberoptic stylet by prehospital providers

Emergency medical technicians intubate patients in unfamiliar surroundings and with less than ideal positioning. This study was designed to evaluate advanced life support (ALS) emergency medical technicians' (...

Authors: Derek R Cooney, Charles Beaudette, Brian M Clemency, Christopher Tanski and Susan Wojcik

Abdominal emergencies in the geriatric patient

Abdominal pain is one of the most frequent reasons that elderly people visit the emergency department (ED). In this article, we review the deadliest causes of abdominal pain in this population, including mesen...

Authors: Ryan Spangler, Thuy Van Pham, Danya Khoujah and Joseph P Martinez

Prospective external validation of an accelerated (2-h) acute coronary syndrome rule-out process using a contemporary troponin assay

Recently there have been efforts to derive safe, efficient processes to rule out acute coronary syndrome (ACS) in emergency department (ED) chest pain patients. We aimed to prospectively validate an ACS assess...

Authors: Anne-Maree Kelly and Sharon Klim

Ring-shaped calcific constrictive pericarditis strangling the heart: a case report

Constrictive pericarditis is caused by fibrosis and calcification of the pericardium, processes that inhibit diastolic filling of the heart. For the diagnosis of constrictive pericarditis, a combined approach ...

Authors: Mu Sook Lee, Joon Hyouk Choi, Young Uck Kim and Su Wan Kim

Emergency department diagnosis of pulmonary hypertension in a patient with left atrial sarcoma

Pulmonary hypertension is a disease with many etiologies and is responsible for 200,000 admissions and 25,000 hospitalizations in the United States each year. We report the case of a previously healthy 58-year...

Authors: Maricel Dela Cruz and Jeremy Seelinger Devey