Frontiers in Emergency Medicine (E-Journal)
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Vitamin B12 Deficiency in a Patient Presenting with Dyspnea: A Case Report
Get PDFIntroduction: Pancytopenia can be caused by underlying disorders such as certain autoimmune conditions, leukemia or even a few nutritional deficiencies such as vitamin B12 deficiency. Vitamin B12 deficiency most commonly presents as megaloblastic anemia but can also be associated with pancytopenia. It can present with a range of symptoms associated with anemia and gastrointestinal or neurological systems. Understanding the etiology of the deficiency is crucial for initiating proper treatments. Case Report: A 19-year-old patient presented with complaints of dyspnea and fever, myalgia and generalized tiredness. Examinations found him to suffer pancytopenia and esophageal candidiasis caused by vitamin B12 deficiency. This deficiency can be associated to inadequate intake and the diet of the patient as a vegetarian. Parenteral B12 treatment led the patient to symptomatically improve. Conclusion: Vitamin B12 deficiency is a reversible cause of bone marrow failure and can be easily treated if diagnosed early enough. Eggs and animal-derived foods constitute the usual source of this vitamin. Vitamin B12 deficiency should therefore be of high index suspicion to a clinician if the patient presents in similar conditions with a vegetarian diet. In the event of the deficiency being caused by inadequate intake or intrinsic factor deficiency, the treatment can be started quickly leading to the dramatic improvement of the patient’s condition
Emergency Department Patient Satisfaction Assessment using Modified Servqual Model; a Cross-sectional Study
Get PDFIntroduction: The quality of medical services and attention paid to patients in medical centers have been concerning for healthcare providers. Objective: The present study was designed to identify factors affecting patient satisfaction with medical service in the emergency department (ED). Method: This was a cross-sectional study conducted in spring 2016 in Imam Khomeini Hospital, Jiroft, Iran. Patients aged more than 18 years presenting to the ED with a minimum stay of 24 hours were included. Unwillingness to take part, incomplete questionnaires, or unavailability for an interview were considered the exclusion criteria. Data were collected using a 24-item researcher-made questionnaire based on Servqual quality measuring tool with five components of tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy. Results: The present study recruited 373 patients with the mean age of 41.7±21.8 years (minimum 18 and maximum 79 years), of whom, 67.1% were men. Mean scores indicate the level of patient satisfaction with the hospital service ranging from relatively satisfied to totally satisfied. The components ranking in improving patient satisfaction were as follows: tangibles 4.59, assurance 2.77, reliability 2.74, responsiveness 2.57, and empathy 2.33. Conclusion: Of the components assessing the patient satisfaction, tangibles were the most effective component and empathy was the least effective one
Nebulized Budesonide vs. Placebo in Adults with Asthma Attack; a Double Blind Randomized Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial
Get PDFIntroduction: Asthma is one of acute respiratory diseases leading to emergency department (ED) referral. Management of acute attack plays an important role in its outcome. Objective: This trial was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of nebulized budesonide versus placebo in moderate to severe acute asthma attack in adults in the ED. Method: In this clinical trial, we enrolled patients with acute exacerbation of asthma and standard treatment of acute asthma attack was administered to all of them. 41 patients in our study were randomly entered into 2 groups. In one group, we prescribed nebulized budesonide and in the other group nebulized placebo (normal saline) was administered. Patients’ demographic data, vital signs, symptoms’ acuity and the time of symptom relief, patient and physician satisfaction were all recorded and compared between the 2 groups. All cases were followed and disease outcome, readmission, mortality and morbidity rates were documented. Results: In this study, 20 patients were entered the budesonide group and 19 patients were enrolled in the placebo group. The mean age ranges were 55.70±15.30 and 60.32±18.41 years old respectively. Heart rate, respiratory rate and O2 saturation in the first group were improved significantly after the treatment in comparison to the second group (p<0.05). The mean time of recovery and length of hospital stay were better in the first group than the second group but this difference was not significant (p>0.05). Conclusion: The addition of nebulized budesonide to standard asthma treatment might result in more improvement in O2 saturation and less patient’s distress
Causes of Prolonged Emergency Department Stay; a Cross-sectional Action Research
Get PDFIntroduction: Based on the existing standards, patients presenting to emergency department (ED) should receive a decision in a maximum of 6 hours after admission to ED and leave ED in this time. Unfortunately, most of the time, especially in general and referral hospitals, we witness patients staying in the ED for hours or even days after a decision has been made. Objective: the present study was performed with the aim of evaluating the causes of patients’ prolonged length of stay in ED of one of the major hospitals in Tehran, Iran. Method: The present cross-sectional action research was carried out in the ED of Imam Khomeini Hospital, Tehran, Iran, in November and December 2016. The studied population consisted of patients who stayed in ED for more than 12 hours. In a panel consist of specialists, semi-structured and open questions were asked from the participants. All the interviews were recorded and converted to text. Effective factors of staying more than 12 hours in ED mentioned by the interviewees were extracted. A checklist of evaluating the causes of more than 12 hours stay in ED was prepared. In the next stage, by daily visit to the ED of the studied hospital, profile of the patients who had stayed in the ED for more than 12 hours was evaluated and the variables determined in the checklist were assessed. Results: In the present study, 407 patients with the mean age of 54.07±20.18 years (minimum 1 and maximum 113 years) were studied, 270 (65.7%) of which were male. Respectively, 26 (6.4%) were admitted in triage level 1, 203 (49.9%) in triage level 2, 168 (41.3%) in triage level 3, 9 (2.2%) in triage level 4 and 1 (0.2%) in triage level 5. Based on these findings, “services not wanting to transfer patients with decisions to the service” was the most common factor. Conclusion: In the present study, specialized services not tending to dislocate the patients that have been decided upon to their respective department, a considerable number of complicated patients and patients with advanced underlying illnesses among those presenting to ED, and shortage of beds in specialized departments and ICU, were the most common causes affecting more than 12 hours stay of patients in the studied ED
A 69-year-old Man with Sudden Loss of Consciousness, Non-reactive Pupils, and a Bilateral Positive Babinski Sign
Get PDFAnalysis of Factors and Medical Errors Involved in Patient Complaints in a European Emergency Department
Get PDFIntroduction: Patients’ complaints from Emergency Departments (ED) are frequent and can be used as a quality assurance indicator. Objective: Factors contributing to patients’ complaints (PCs) in the emergency department were analyzed. Methods: It was a retrospective cohort study, the qualitative variables of patients’ complaints visiting ED of a university hospital were compared with Chi-Square and t test tests. Results: Eighty-five PC were analyzed. The factors contributing to PC were: communication (n=26), length of stay (LOS) (n=24), diagnostic errors (n=21), comfort and privacy issues (n=7), pain management (n=6), inappropriate treatment (n=6), delay of care and billing issues (n=3). PCs were more frequent when patients were managed by residents, during night shifts, weekends, Saturdays, Mondays, January and June. Moreover, the factors contributing to diagnostic errors were due to poor communication, non-adherence to guidelines and lack of systematic proofreading of X-rays. In 98% of cases, disputes were resolved by apology and explanation and three cases resulted in financial compensation. Conclusion: Poor communication, LOS and medical errors are factors contributing to PCs. Improving communication, resolving issues leading to slow health care provision, adequate staffing and supervision of trainees may reduce PCs
The Effect of Implementation of the Standard Clinical Practice Guideline (CPG) for Management of Multiple Trauma Patients Admitted to an Emergency Department
Get PDFIntroduction: The purpose of triage in the standard Clinical Practice Guide (CPG) for multiple trauma patients is to perform the primary and secondary evaluations in the quickest and shortest possible time with minimal errors and the best quality in the emergency department (ED). Objective: In this study, a practical program for a coordinated management of multiple trauma patients in the ED has been provided by using the CPG guide. The impact of its implementation on the multiple trauma patients’ management was evaluated. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study conducted in 2014 and 2015 in Isfahan’s Al-Zahra hospital ED. Administration and management of multiple trauma patients had been prepared before the implementation of the plan based on standard clinical methods of implementation in a way that used a 12-step protocol for the practical guide. This protocol was designed as a flowchart and the results before and after its implementation were evaluated. Results: In this study, 100 multiple trauma patients before and after the implementation of the protocol were studied. The mean age of the patients and other baseline characteristics of studied patients in the two periods before and after implantation of the CPG were not significantly different (p > 0.05). The frequency of intubation (p = 0.016) and sent to the operating room (p < 0.001) were different in the two study periods. However, hospitalization in the ICU (p = 0.35) and death (p = 0.73) before and after implementation of the protocol were not statistically different. The time before examination by the EM physicians was significantly lower in all triage levels after CPG implementation. Meanwhile, no change in time elapsed occurred for the surgeons except for the patients in level 2 of triage. Conclusion: Implementation of the strategic plan of CPG lead to a significant reduction in waiting time for visits by emergency medicine services and other specialized services, increased the deployment of patients needing surgery, and reducing the time spent in the ED
Ultrasonography in Emergency Department; a Diagnostic Tool for Better Examination and Decision-Making
Get PDFContext: The aim of this study is to evaluate the applications of ultrasonography (US) as a diagnostic tool in emergency settings. Evidence acquisition: In the present review article, search engines and scientific databases of Google Scholar, Science Direct, PubMed, Medline, Scopus, and Cochrane were searched for the applications of US in emergencies. Finally, related articles which were published between 2000 and 2017, were selected and by reviewing them an attempt was made to evaluate various applications of US for examining and facilitating decision-making in emergency department (ED). Results: As a diagnostic tool, US can be of diagnostic help in emergency settings for the specialists and the treatment team regarding trauma, measuring intracranial pressure (ICP), hemothorax pneumothorax, abscess and its drainage, deep vein thrombosis (DVT), dyspnea, acute abdomen, appendicitis and biliary problems, renal colic and renal stones, shock, foreign object, bone fracture, peripheral nerve block, establishing central and peripheral venous access, lumbar puncture (LP), and confirmation of nasogastric tube (NGT) and endotracheal tube (ETT) placement. Conclusion: The results of this review study showed that US can be of help to EMPs as a diagnostic tool in a wide range of diseases and clinical conditions, which in turn can result in a decrease in the time needed for diagnosis and treatment, and therefore improve both the quality and quantity of the service provided in ED
The Veracity of Troponin Test Requests for Patients Presenting to the Emergency Department with Chest Pain; A Clinical Audit
Get PDFIntroduction: Troponin test is one of the methods for diagnosing acute coronary syndrome, but the overuse and misuse of this test has increased the costs imposed on the health system and the patients. Objective: The present study was conducted to investigate the veracity of troponin test requests for patients presenting to an emergency department with chest pain and examine the effectiveness of training emergency medicine assistants in reducing unnecessary and inappropriate requests in emergency departments. Methods: This clinical audit was conducted in the emergency department of Imam Hossein Hospital, Tehran, Iran, in 2014. Sampling was carried out using the census method and all the cases presenting to the emergency department for whom a troponin test was requested by the emergency medical assistants were included in the research. First, the veracity of the current troponin test requests was assessed; then, training was given to the personnel, and the veracity of the troponin test requests was once again verified after the training was completed. The rate of veracious troponin requests for the patients was measured based on two factors, including the interval between the patients’ admission and the troponin test request, and the interval between the onset of pain and the troponin test request. The veracity of the troponin test request was compared before and after training using the Phi test and Cramer’s V test in IBM SPSS-21. Results: This study examined a total of 500 patients (250 before training and 250 after), who had a mean age of 57.65±18.15 years, including 51.6% men. Significant differences were observed between the mean time of the patients’ admission and the overall and post-training troponin test results (P=0.000), and also between the mean time of the onset of pain and the overall and post-training troponin test results (P=0.000). The number of positive troponin test results did not differ significantly between the patients in either of the two stages (P=0.39). Conclusion: Unnecessary troponin test requests reduced significantly after this clinical audit in the examined emergency department
Emergency Overcrowding Impact on the Quality of Care of Patients Presenting with Acute Stroke
Get PDFIntroduction: Emergency overcrowding is defined as when the amount of care required for patients overcomes the available amount. This can cause delays in delivering critical care in situations like stroke. Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the possible impact of emergency department (ED) crowding on the quality of care for acute stroke patients. Methods: In this cross-sectional prospective study, all patients with symptoms of acute stroke presenting to the ED of educational hospitals were enrolled. All patients were assessed and examined by the emergency medicine (EM) residents on shift and a questionnaire was filled out for them. The amount of time that passed from the first triage to performing the required interventions and delivering health services were recorded by the triage nurse. ED crowding was measured by the occupancy rate. Then, the correlation between all of the variables and ED crowding level were calculated. Results: The average daily bed occupancy rate was 184.9 ± 54.3%. The median time passed from the first triage to performing the interventions were as follows: the first EM resident visit after 34 min, the first neurologic visit after 138 min, head CT after 134 min, ECG after 104 min and ASA administration after 210 min. There was no statistically significant relationship between the ED occupancy rate and the time elapsed before different required health services in the management of stroke patients either throughout an entire day or during each 8-hour interval (p > 0.05). Conclusion: In the current study, the ED occupancy rate was not significantly correlated with the time frame associated with management of admitted acute stroke patients