Latest Annals of Emergency Medicine Stories

WASHINGTON, April 29, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Most children with isolated skull fractures may not need to stay in the hospital, which finding has the potential to save the health care system millions of dollars a year ("Isolated Skull Fractures: Trends in Management in U.S. Pediatric Emergency Departments"). In addition, a new device more accurately estimates children's weights, leading to more precise drug dosing in the ER ("Evaluation of the Mercy TAPE: Performance Against...

Harvard researchers find lengthy waits for severely ill psychiatric patients A study published today in Annals of Emergency Medicine reports lengthy waits for severely ill psychiatric patients in need of immediate hospitalization in the Boston area, due in part to time-consuming prior authorizations required by insurance companies. Psychiatrists spent, on average, 38 minutes on the telephone getting authorization. In 10 percent of cases it took more than one hour to obtain insurance...

Large numbers of ER visits go unreported in calculating hospital readmissions A study led by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Boston University School of Medicine has found that nearly one quarter of patients may return to the emergency department within 30 days of being discharged from a hospitalization. None of these emergency room visits that do not lead to subsequent admission are included in calculating hospital readmission rates,...

WASHINGTON, March 28, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- An analysis of poison control data from nine Midwestern states reveals a complex picture of the range of emergency patients poisoned by legal "designer drugs" known as bath salts, with one being just one day old and an unusually high proportion sick enough to be admitted to the intensive care unit of the hospital. Older users, mostly male, were more likely to inject the drugs and were also more likely to become critically ill,...

WASHINGTON, March 5, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The mismatch between where cardiac arrest is most likely to happen and where automated external defibrillators (AEDS) are most likely placed may help explain in part the low survival rate for this "significant public health problem," according to a Canadian study published yesterday online in Annals of Emergency Medicine ("Determining Risk for Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest by Location Type in a Canadian Urban Setting to Guide...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 30, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A veterinary deworming agent, levamisole, found in both cocaine and heroin has caused infectious diseases and skin lesions requiring emergency care. A case series published online yesterday in Annals of Emergency Medicine calls levamisole-contaminated cocaine "an important emerging public health concern" in view of the nearly two million cocaine users in the United States ("Passive Multistate Surveillance for Neutropenia after Use...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 21, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Massachusetts' 2009 ban on ambulance diversion not only did not increase emergency department length of stay or ambulance turnaround time but may actually have led to improvements in both areas, according to a study published online today in Annals of Emergency Medicine ("The Effect of an Ambulance Diversion Ban on Emergency Department Length of Stay and Ambulance Turnaround Time"). http://tinyurl.com/bph7byr (Logo:...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 19, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) today expressed deepest sympathy to all those affected by the senseless tragedy in Connecticut and called on government at every level to increase investments in mental health resources and to ban the sale of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100616/DC22034LOGO-d) "Emergency physicians see the tragic consequences of gun...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 6, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Patients admitted to the hospital from the emergency department during periods of high crowding died more often than similar patients admitted to the same hospital when the emergency department was less crowded. Crowding was also associated with longer overall hospital length of stay and increased costs per admission, according to the results of a study published online yesterday in Annals of Emergency Medicine ("Impact of Emergency...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 7, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Minor, uncomplicated wounds - such as the typical cuts and scrapes of childhood - are less likely to become infected when kept clean and moist and treated with topical antibiotics, according to a literature review published online today in Annals of Emergency Medicine, the peer-reviewed scientific journal for the American College of Emergency Physicians ("Do Topical Antibiotics Help Prevent Infection in Minor Traumatic Uncomplicated...