Care of Metabolic and Endocrine Conditions in the Observation Unit.

Accelerated therapeutic protocols targeting metabolic conditions are ideal for observation unit care. Because many conditions, such as hypokalemia and hyperglycemia, have little to no diagnostic uncertainty, the care in the unit is often straightforward. Additionally, some components of care for the endocrine condition may exhaust services, such as phlebotomy.

There's Another Observation Unit?: A Case Series Survey of Second Level Observation Units.

Objectives: Observation units are dedicated areas in the hospital to deliver care to patients in observation status-those too risky to be immediately discharged following an emergency department evaluation but also clearly not in need of an inpatient admission. Observation units have been commonplace for several decades but in recent years some hospitals have begun to operate an additional observation unit with a distinct care delivery model and patient population.

Methods: We conducted a survey between June 2014 and December 2014 to determine the prevalence and key operational characteristics of second level observation units in the US.

Ability of triage decision rules for rapid electrocardiogram to identify patients with suspected ST-elevation myocardial infarction.

Background: : The American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association guidelines for ST-elevation myocardial infarction state that an electrocardiogram (ECG) should be performed on patients with suspected acute coronary syndrome upon presentation to the emergency department (ED) within 10 minutes.

Objective: : To determine how previously published clinical criteria for obtaining an ECG at ED triage perform in a population of patients receiving emergency cardiac catheterization for suspected myocardial infarction. This rule was originally derived by Graff to identify clinical criteria for obtaining an ECG at triage to rapidly identify patients with acute myocardial infarction.