SARS-CoV-2 screening in patients in need of urgent inpatient treatment in the Emergency Department (ED) by digitally integrated point-of-care PCR: a clinical cohort study
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Mockel M
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8761116 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:This study aims to evaluate the necessity of urgent neuroimaging for emergency admissions exhibiting symptomatology of profound hyponatremia. We retrospectively analyzed the medical records of all patients admitted to the emergency room of the University Hospital Münster from 2010 to 2014 with a serum sodium value < 125 mmol/L. From 52918 emergency admissions, 261 patients with profound hyponatremia were identified, of whom 140 (54%) had neurological symptoms. Unspecific weakness and confusion were the most prevalent of these symptoms (59%). Focal neurological signs [FNS] were present in 31% of cases and neuroimaging was performed in 68% (95/140) of symptomatic patients. Multiple logistic regression analysis identified FNS, seizures, altered consciousness and age as independent predictors for conducting neuroimaging (all p < 0.05). Significant pathological findings consistent with acute symptomatology were evident in 17 cases, all of whom had FNS. Recursive partitioning analyses confirmed FNS as the best predictor of neuroimaging pathology (p < 0.001). Absence of FNS had a negative predictive value of 100% [95% confidence interval: 93-100%] for excluding neuroimaging pathology. In conclusion, emergency patients with profound hyponatremia frequently show nonspecific-neurological symptoms and may undergo neuroimaging unnecessarily. The lack of FNS may serve as a valuable criterion for withholding neuroimaging until hyponatremia has been corrected.
| S-EPMC5434027 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Recent health policy changes have focused efforts on reducing emergency department (ED) visits as a way to reduce costs and improve quality of care. This was a systematic review of interventions based outside the ED aimed at reducing ED use.This study was designed as a systematic review. We reviewed the literature on interventions in five categories: patient education, creation of additional non-ED capacity, managed care, prehospital diversion, and patient financial incentives. Studies written in English, with interventions administered outside of the ED, and a comparison group where ED use was an outcome, were included. Two independent reviewers screened search results using MEDLINE, Cochrane, OAIster, or Scopus. The following data were abstracted from included studies: type of intervention, study design, population, details of intervention, effect on ED use, effect on non-ED health care use, and other health and financial outcomes. Quality of individual articles was assessed using Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) guidelines.Of 39 included studies, 34 were observational and five were randomized controlled trials. Two of five studies on patient education found reductions in ED use ranging from 21% to 80%. Out of 10 studies of additional non-ED capacity, four showed decreases of 9% to 54%, and one a 21% increase. Both studies on prehospital diversion found reductions of 3% to 7%. Of 12 studies on managed care, 10 had decreases ranging from 1% to 46%. Nine out of 10 studies on patient financial incentives found decreases of 3% to 50%, and one a 34% increase. Nineteen studies reported effect on non-ED use with mixed results. Seventeen studies included data on health outcomes, but 13 of these only included data on hospitalizations rather than morbidity and mortality. Seven studies included data on cost outcomes. According to the GRADE guidelines, all studies had at least some risk of bias, with four moderate quality, one low quality, and 34 very low quality studies.Many studies have explored interventions based outside the ED to reduce ED use in various populations, with mixed evidence. Approximately two-thirds identified here showed reductions in ED use. The interventions with the greatest number of studies showing reductions in ED use include patient financial incentives and managed care, while the greatest magnitude of reductions were found in patient education. These findings have implications for insurers and policymakers seeking to reduce ED use.
| S-EPMC4038086 | biostudies-literature
Project description:ImportanceSuicide is a leading cause of deaths in the United States. Although the emergency department (ED) is an opportune setting for initiating suicide prevention efforts, ED-initiated suicide prevention interventions remain underdeveloped.ObjectiveTo determine whether an ED-initiated intervention reduces subsequent suicidal behavior.Design, setting, and participantsThis multicenter study of 8 EDs in the United States enrolled adults with a recent suicide attempt or ideation and was composed of 3 sequential phases: (1) a treatment as usual (TAU) phase from August 2010 to December 2011, (2) a universal screening (screening) phase from September 2011 to December 2012, and (3) a universal screening plus intervention (intervention) phase from July 2012 to November 2013.InterventionsScreening consisted of universal suicide risk screening. The intervention phase consisted of universal screening plus an intervention, which included secondary suicide risk screening by the ED physician, discharge resources, and post-ED telephone calls focused on reducing suicide risk.Main outcomes and measuresThe primary outcome was suicide attempts (nonfatal and fatal) over the 52-week follow-up period. The proportion and total number of attempts were analyzed.ResultsA total of 1376 participants were recruited, including 769 females (55.9%) with a median (interquartile range) age of 37 (26-47) years. A total of 288 participants (20.9%) made at least 1 suicide attempt, and there were 548 total suicide attempts among participants. There were no significant differences in risk reduction between the TAU and screening phases (23% vs 22%, respectively). However, compared with the TAU phase, patients in the intervention phase showed a 5% absolute reduction in suicide attempt risk (23% vs 18%), with a relative risk reduction of 20%. Participants in the intervention phase had 30% fewer total suicide attempts than participants in the TAU phase. Negative binomial regression analysis indicated that the participants in the intervention phase had significantly fewer total suicide attempts than participants in the TAU phase (incidence rate ratio, 0.72; 95% CI, 0.52-1.00; P = .05) but no differences between the TAU and screening phases (incidence rate ratio, 1.00; 95% CI, 0.71-1.41; P = .99).Conclusions and relevanceAmong at-risk patients in the ED, a combination of brief interventions administered both during and after the ED visit decreased post-ED suicidal behavior.
| S-EPMC5539839 | biostudies-literature
Project description:OBJECTIVE:To examine whether care provided by general practitioners (GPs) to non-urgent patients in the emergency department differs significantly from care provided by usual accident and emergency (A&E) staff in terms of process outcomes and A&E clinical quality indicators. DESIGN:Propensity score matched cohort study. SETTING:GPs in A&E colocated within the University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust between May 2015 and March 2016. PARTICIPANTS:Non-urgent attendances visits to the A&E department. MAIN OUTCOMES:Process outcomes (any investigation, any blood investigation, any radiological investigation, any intervention, admission and referrals) and A&E clinical indicators (spent 4?hours plus, left without being seen and 7-day reattendance). RESULTS:A total of 5426 patients seen by GPs in A&E were matched with 10?852 patients seen by emergency physicians (ratio 1:2). Compared with standard care in A&E, GPs in A&E significantly: admitted fewer patients (risk ratio (RR) 0.28, 95% CI 0.25 to 0.31), referred fewer patients to other specialists (RR 0.31, 95%?CI 0.24 to 0.40), ordered fewer radiological investigations (RR 0.38, 95%?CI 0.34 to 0.42), ordered fewer blood tests (0.57, 95%?CI 0.52 to 0.61) and ordered fewer investigations (0.93, 95%?CI 0.90 to 0.96). However, they intervened more, offered more primary care follow-up (RR 1.78, 95%?CI 1.67 to 1.89) and referred more patients to outpatient and other A&E clinics (RR 2.29, 95%?CI 2.10 to 2.49). Patients seen by GPs in A&E were on average less likely to spend 4?hours plus in A&E (RR 0.37, 95%?CI 0.30 to 0.45) compared with standard care in A&E. There was no difference in reattendance after 7?days (RR 0.96, 95%?CI 0.84 to 1.09). CONCLUSION:GPs in A&E tended to manage self-reporting minor cases with fewer resources than standard care in A&E, without increasing reattendance rates.
| S-EPMC5950695 | biostudies-other
Project description:Emergency departments (EDs) are an important health care setting for the identification of elder abuse (EA). Our objective was to develop an ED-based tool to identify EA. The initial tool included a brief cognitive assessment, questions to detect multiple domains of EA, and a physical examination. Refinement of the tool was based on input from clinical experts and nurse and patient feedback. The revised tool, which included 15 questions about EA, was then tested in an academic ED. We calculated the inter-rater reliability, sensitivity, and specificity of individual EA questions. Among ED patients age?65 (N = 259), 17 (7%) screened positive for suspicion of EA. We identified a combination of six questions that cover the included domains of EA, demonstrated good or excellent inter-rater reliability, and had a sensitivity and specificity of 94% (95% confidence interval (CI) 71-100%) and 90% (95% CI 85-93%), respectively. These results inform a proposed screening tool for multisite validation testing.
| S-EPMC6774613 | biostudies-literature
Project description:PURPOSE:To determine the frequency of emergency department (ED) visits for nonurgent and urgent ocular conditions and risk factors associated with ED use for nonurgent and urgent ocular problems. DESIGN:Retrospective, longitudinal cohort analysis. PARTICIPANTS:All enrollees aged 21 years or older in a United States managed care network during 2001-2014. METHODS:We identified all enrollees visiting an ED for ocular conditions identified by International Classification of Diseases, billing codes. Diagnosis is well-described as urgent, nonurgent, or other. We assessed the frequency of ED visits for urgent and nonurgent ocular conditions and how they changed over time. Next, we performed multivariable Cox regression modeling to determine factors associated with visiting an ED for urgent or nonurgent ocular conditions. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:Hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of visiting an ED for urgent or nonurgent ocular conditions. RESULTS:Of the 11?160?833 enrollees eligible for this study, 376 680 (3.4%) had 1 or more ED visit for an eye-related problem over a mean ± standard deviation of 5.4±3.3 years' follow-up. Among these enrolled, 86 473 (23.0%) had 1 or more ED visits with a nonurgent ocular condition and 25 289 (6.7%) had at least 1 ED visit with an urgent ocular condition. Use of the ED for nonurgent ocular problems was associated with younger age (P < 0.0001 for all comparisons), black race or Latino ethnicity (P < 0.0001 for both), male sex (P < 0.0001), lower income (P < 0.0001 for all comparisons), and those who frequently sought treatment at an ED for nonophthalmologic medical problems in a given year (P < 0.0001). Enrollees with established eye care professionals had a 10% reduced hazard of visiting the ED for nonurgent ocular conditions (adjusted HR, 0.90; 95% CI, 0.88-0.92; P < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS:Nearly one-quarter of enrollees who visited the ED for an ocular problem received a diagnosis of a nonurgent condition. Better educating and incentivizing patients to seek care for nonurgent ocular diseases in an office-based setting could yield considerable cost savings without adversely affecting health outcomes and could allow EDs to better serve patients with more severe conditions.
| S-EPMC5668138 | biostudies-literature
Project description:ObjectivesTo determine the percentage of non-urgent (NU) visits in an Iranian emergency department (ED), to explore why patients with NU conditions refer to EDs and also to assess the association between patients' characteristics and their visits.DesignA cross sectional study based on face to face survey.SettingA territorial, teaching and military hospital in Tehran province, Iran.Participants and data collectionAll patients who visited the ED during the 2-week period were recruited. Data were collected using a validated questionnaire.ResultsOf 1884 patients who visited the ED, 1217 (64.6%) patients were triaged as NU while 667 (35.4%) were urgent and semiurgent visits cases. The most important reasons for NU visits were seeking prompt (36.6%) and less costly care (35.9%). We found that NU visits have increased with younger patients, during weekends and night shifts, and with patients suffering from recurrent symptoms lasting in 1?week or less.ConclusionsEDs are a common source of care for NU problems in Iran. The most invaluable solution is building up special clinics for providing healthcare services to NU patients during the weekends and, in the busy and night shifts. Receiving higher fees from NU patients could also be adopted with caution. Promoting awareness and knowledge of both healthcare providers and patients about the main role of EDs will contribute in improving their performance. As a long-term solution, adopting the family physician programme and ameliorating the referral system are recommended.
| S-EPMC6797411 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundEmergency department (ED) crowding and prolonged lengths of stay continue to be important medical issues. It is difficult to apply traditional methods to analyze multiple streams of the ED patient management process simultaneously. The aim of this study was to develop a statistical model to delineate the dynamic patient flow within the ED and to analyze the effects of relevant factors on different patient movement rates.MethodsThis study used a retrospective cohort available with electronic medical data. Important time points and relevant covariates of all patients between January and December 2013 were collected. A new five-state Markov model was constructed by an expert panel, including three intermediate states: triage, physician management, and observation room and two final states: admission and discharge. A day was further divided into four six-hour periods to evaluate dynamics of patient movement over time.ResultsA total of 149,468 patient records were analyzed with a median total length of stay being 2.12 (interquartile range = 6.51) hours. The patient movement rates between states were estimated, and the effects of the age group and triage level on these movements were also measured. Patients with lower acuity go home more quickly (relative rate (RR): 1.891, 95% CI: 1.881-1.900) but have to wait longer for physicians (RR: 0.962, 95% CI: 0.956-0.967) and admission beds (RR: 0.673, 95% CI: 0.666-0.679). While older patients were seen more quickly by physicians (RR: 1.134, 95% CI: 1.131-1.139), they spent more time waiting for the final state (for admission RR: 0.830, 95% CI: 0.821-0.839; for discharge RR: 0.773, 95% CI: 0.769-0.776). Comparing the differences in patient movement rates over a 24-hour day revealed that patients wait longer before seen by physicians during the evening and that they usually move from the ED to admission afternoon. Predictive dynamic illustrations show that six hours after the patients' entry, the probability of still in the ED system ranges from 28% in the evening to 38% in the morning.ConclusionsThe five-state model well described the dynamic ED patient flow and analyzed the effects of relevant influential factors at different states. The model can be used in similar medical settings or incorporate different important covariates to develop individually tailored approaches for the improvement of efficiency within the health professions.
| S-EPMC7737449 | biostudies-literature
Project description:IntroductionDirect hospital admission of children without evaluation in the emergency department (ED) is common, but few guidelines exist to maximize safety by assessing patient stability. This report describes a novel approach to support patient safety.MethodsAn interdisciplinary children's hospital team developed a brief ED-based evaluation process called the ED Rapid Assessment of Patients Intended for Inpatient Disposition (ED RAPID). It entails a brief evaluation of vital signs and clinical stability by the ED attending physician and nurse. Children deemed stable are admitted to inpatient wards, whereas those requiring immediate intervention undergo full ED evaluation and disposition. We assessed outcomes for all children evaluated through this process from March 2013 through February 2015.ResultsDuring the study period, we identified 715 patients undergoing ED RAPID evaluation. Of these, we directly admitted 691 (96.4%) to the hospital ward after ED RAPID evaluation; median ED treatment time was 4.0 minutes. We transitioned 24 (3.4%) to full ED evaluation, 14 (2.0%) because a ward bed was unavailable, and 10 (1.4%) for clinical reasons identified in the evaluation. We admitted four of the 10 stopped (40% of stops, 0.6% of total) to an intensive care unit, and 6 (60% of stops, 0.8% of total) to the hospital ward after ED care. Eight children (1.1%) admitted to the hospital ward after ED RAPID evaluation required a transfer to an intensive care unit within 12 hours.ConclusionThe ED RAPID evaluation process for children directly admitted to the hospital was feasible and effective in this setting.
| S-EPMC7190248 | biostudies-literature
Project description:IntroductionDelirium is a dangerous syndrome of acute brain dysfunction that is common in the emergency department (ED), especially among the geriatric population. Most systematic reviews of interventions for delirium prevention and treatment have focused on inpatient settings. Best practices of effective delirium care in ED settings have not been established. The primary objective of this study is to identify pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic interventions as applied by physicians, nursing staff, pharmacists and other ED personnel to prevent incident delirium and to shorten the severity and duration of prevalent delirium in a geriatric population within the ED.Methods and analysisSearches using subject headings and keywords will be conducted from database inception through June 2020 in MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of Science, PsychINFO, CINAHL, ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global and Cochrane CENTRAL as well as grey literature. Database searches will not be limited by date or language. Two reviewers will identify studies describing any interventions for delirium prevention and/or treatment in the ED. Disagreements will be settled by a third reviewer. Pooled data analysis will be performed where possible using Review Manager. Risk ratios and weighted difference of means will be used for incidence of delirium and other binary outcomes related to delirium, delirium severity or duration of symptoms, along with 95% CIs. Heterogeneity will be measured by calculating I 2, and a forest plot will be created. If significant heterogeneity is identified, metaregression is planned using OpenMeta to identify possible sources of heterogeneity.Ethics and disseminationThis is a systematic review of previously conducted research; accordingly, it does not constitute human subjects research needing ethics review. This review will be prepared as a manuscript and submitted for publication to a peer-reviewed journal, and the results will be presented at conferences.Prospero trial registration numberCRD42020169654.
| S-EPMC7539587 | biostudies-literature