Pulmonary embolism (PE) kills 100,000 people in the United States each year making it the second most common cause of sudden, unexpected, nontraumatic death outside of the hospital. PE-related deaths can be unexpected because it can present with minimal symptoms, vague symptoms, difficulty breathing, syncope, or sudden-death. Among ED patients with PE, about 3%-4% have had a syncopal event.
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Diverticulitis is a common cause of abdominal pain in the Emergency Department (ED) setting, especially in older patients. It has been reported as one of the 5 GI diseases most burdensome to the healthcare system at large in the United States. Diverticulitis is defined as inflammation of one or more diverticuli; outpouchings of the large intestine caused by herniation of the bowel mucosa into the colon wall.
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Although ibuprofen has been shown to be an effective analgesic for children with extremity fractures, controversy exists as to whether its use may be detrimental to fracture healing. This is problematic as common alternatives, specifically acetaminophen and opiates, can be ineffective or have troublesome side effects. This study aims to shed light on the possible association between NSAIDs and fracture complications in pediatric patients.
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While hypoxia is a clearly recognized dangerous clinical entity in critically ill patients, the dangers of hyperoxia are gaining recognition. Hyperoxia has been shown to cause systemic vasoconstriction, pulmonary interstitial fibrosis, atelectasis, and tracheobronchitis. Two studies have demonstrated the harms of hyperoxia in both peri-operative (Meyhoff 2009) and STEMI patients (Stub 2015). This study sought to look at the effect of conservative arterial oxygen goals on ICU mortality.
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CT scans are frequently done after minor head injury to evaluate for intracranial hemorrhage. While CT scans are an excellent tool for diagnosing or ruling out this disorder, they are not without harms including radiation exposure, cost and department delays. Much of the time, CTs are negative, or find injuries for which no intervention is ever done and do not clinically affect the patient.
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Emergency Departments (ED) are frequently tasked with managing HIV exposures and initiating post exposure prophylaxis (PEP). A survey of ED providers in early 2000 demonstrated that many were uncomfortable determining the need for PEP after non-occupational exposures, like sexual contact and injection drug use. For such cases, PEP management occurred 49-100% of the time. In 2005,
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Women presenting to the Emergency Department (ED) with abdominal pain present a diagnostic dilemma when it comes to selection of imaging modality. Differentiating pain originating from pelvic organs vs. intra-abdominal organs is difficult to do with history and physical alone, and many women ultimately end up undergoing both CT of the abdomen and pelvis (CTAP) and pelvic US in the ED.
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