Comparison of clinical note quality between an automated digital intake tool and the standard note in the emergency department.

Background: Medical encounters require an efficient and focused history of present illness (HPI) to create differential diagnoses and guide diagnostic testing and treatment. Our aim was to compare the HPI of notes created by an automated digital intake tool versus standard medical notes created by clinicians.

Methods: Prospective trial in a quaternary academic Emergency Department (ED).

Contact tracing with a real-time location system: A case study of increasing relative effectiveness in an emergency department.

Background: Contact tracing is the systematic method of identifying individuals potentially exposed to infectious diseases. Electronic medical record (EMR) use for contact tracing is time-consuming and may miss exposed individuals. Real-time location systems (RTLSs) may improve contact identification.

A prospective analysis of urinary tract infections among elderly trauma patients.

Background: Catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) have been deemed "reasonably preventable" by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, thereby eliminating reimbursement. Elderly trauma patients, however, are at high risk for developing urinary tract infections (UTIs) given their extensive comorbidities, immobilization, and environmental changes in the urine, which provide the ideal environment for bacterial overgrowth. Whether these patients develop CAUTI as a complication of their hospitalization or have asymptomatic bacteriuria (ASB) or UTI at admission must be determined to justify the "reasonably preventable" classification.

Effect of a physician assistant as triage liaison provider on patient throughput in an academic emergency department.

Objectives: Overcapacity issues plague emergency departments (EDs). Studies suggest that triage liaison providers (TLPs) may shorten patient length of stay (LOS) and reduce the proportion of patients who leave without being seen (LWBS), but these results are not universal. Previous studies used physicians as TLPs.

Effectiveness of patient-collected swabs for influenza testing.

Objective: To compare the effectiveness of self-collected and health care worker (HCW)-collected nasal swabs for detection of influenza viruses and determine the patients' preference for type of collection.

Patients And Methods: We enrolled adult patients presenting with influenzalike illness to the Emergency Department at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, from January 28, 2011, through April 30, 2011. Patients self-collected a midturbinate nasal flocked swab from their right nostril following written instructions.

A prospective, randomized trial of an emergency department observation unit for acute onset atrial fibrillation.

Study Objective: An emergency department (ED) observation unit protocol for the management of acute onset atrial fibrillation is compared with routine hospital admission and management.

Methods: Adult patients presenting to the ED with atrial fibrillation of less than 48 hours' duration without hemodynamic instability or other comorbid conditions requiring hospitalization were enrolled. Participants were randomized to either ED observation unit care or routine inpatient care.

Botulinum toxin to improve facial wound healing: A prospective, blinded, placebo-controlled study.

Objective: To test whether botulinum toxin-induced immobillzation of facial lacerations enhances wound healing and results in less noticeable scars.

Patients And Methods: In this blinded, prospective, randomized clinical trial, patients were randomized from February 1, 2002, until January 1, 2004, to botullnum toxin vs placebo injection into the musculature adjacent to the wound within 24 hours after wound closure. Blinded assessment of standardized photographs by experienced facial plastic surgeons using a 10-cm visual analog scale served as the main outcome measure.