A prospective study to compare serial changes in pain scores for patients with and without a history of frequent ED utilization.

Background: In the face of the opiate addiction epidemic, there is a paucity of research that evaluates limitations for our current pain rating methodologies for patient populations at risk for drug seeking behavior.

Objective: We hypothesized that VAS scores would be higher and show less serial improvement for patients with a history of frequent ED use.

Methods: This was a prospective, observational cohort study of a convenience sample of adult ED patients with chief complaint of pain.

Sensitivity of urinary pathogens for patients discharged from the emergency department compared with the hospital antibiogram.

Background: Data for hospital antibiograms are typically compiled from all patients, regardless of disposition, demographics and other comorbidities.

Objective: We hypothesized that the sensitivity patterns for urinary pathogens would differ significantly from the hospital antibiogram in patients that were discharged from the emergency department (ED).

Methods: We evaluated a retrospective cohort of all adult patients with positive urine cultures treated in the 2016 calendar year at an inner-city academic ED.