Efficacy of an erector spinae plane block for renal colic: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background And Aim: The passage of kidney stones through the ureter creates renal colic, a severe visceral abdominal pain. Renal colic is typically managed with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and opioids. Yet, these treatments often fail to provide adequate pain relief.

Characteristics and outcomes of emergency department patients across health care systems: an international multicenter cohort study.

Background: A wide variation of emergency medical system configurations across countries has limited the value of comparison of quality and performance measures in the past. Furthermore, lack of quantitative data on EDs prevents definition of the problems and possibilities for data driven improvement of quality of care. Therefore, the objective is to describe and compare Emergency Department (ED) populations and characteristics, and their outcomes in the Netherlands, Denmark and Australia, using a recently developed template for uniform reporting of standardized measuring and describing of care provided in the ED (structure, staffing and governance, population, process times and outcomes).

Association between stringency of lockdown measures and emergency department visits during the COVID-19 pandemic: A Dutch multicentre study.

Introduction: The COVID-19 outbreak disrupted regular health care, including the Emergency Department (ED), and resulted in insufficient ICU capacity. Lockdown measures were taken to prevent disease spread and hospital overcrowding. Little is known about the relationship of stringency of lockdown measures on ED utilization.

Using case vignettes to study the presence of outcome, hindsight, and implicit bias in acute unplanned medical care: a cross-sectional study.

Background And Importance: Various biases can impact decision-making and judgment of case quality in the Emergency Department (ED). Outcome and hindsight bias can lead to wrong retrospective judgment of care quality, and implicit bias can result in unjust treatment differences in the ED based on irrelevant patient characteristics.

Objectives: First, to evaluate the extent to which knowledge of an outcome influences physicians' quality of care assessment.

THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN SYSTOLIC BLOOD PRESSURE AND HEART RATE IN EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT PATIENTS: A MULTICENTER COHORT STUDY.

Background: Guidelines and textbooks assert that tachycardia is an early and reliable sign of hypotension, and an increased heart rate (HR) is believed to be an early warning sign for the development of shock, although this response may change by aging, pain, and stress.

Objective: To assess the unadjusted and adjusted associations between systolic blood pressure (SBP) and HR in emergency department (ED) patients of different age categories (18-50 years; 50-80 years; > 80 years).

Methods: A multicenter cohort study using the Netherlands Emergency department Evaluation Database (NEED) including all ED patients ≥ 18 years from three hospitals in whom HR and SBP were registered at arrival to the ED.

Development and External Validation of the International Early Warning Score for Improved Age- and Sex-Adjusted In-Hospital Mortality Prediction in the Emergency Department.

Objectives: Early Warning Scores (EWSs) have a great potential to assist clinical decision-making in the emergency department (ED). However, many EWS contain methodological weaknesses in development and validation and have poor predictive performance in older patients. The aim of this study was to develop and externally validate an International Early Warning Score (IEWS) based on a recalibrated National Early warning Score (NEWS) model including age and sex and evaluate its performance independently at arrival to the ED in three age categories (18-65, 66-80, > 80 yr).

The prediction of 24-h mortality by the respiratory rate and oxygenation index compared with National Early Warning Score in emergency department patients: an observational study.

Background: The ROX index combines respiratory rate and oxygenation to predict the response to oxygen therapy in pneumonia. It is calculated by dividing the patient's oxygen saturation, by the inspired oxygen concentration, and then by the respiratory rate (e.g.

The effect of treatment and clinical course during Emergency Department stay on severity scoring and predicted mortality risk in Intensive Care patients.

Background: Treatment and the clinical course during Emergency Department (ED) stay before Intensive Care Unit (ICU) admission may affect predicted mortality risk calculated by the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE)-IV, causing lead-time bias. As a result, comparing standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) among hospitals may be difficult if they differ in the location where initial stabilization takes place. The aim of this study was to assess to what extent predicted mortality risk would be affected if the APACHE-IV score was recalculated with the initial physiological variables from the ED.

Age-adjusted interpretation of biomarkers of renal function and homeostasis, inflammation, and circulation in Emergency Department patients.

Appropriate interpretation of blood tests is important for risk stratification and guidelines used in the Emergency Department (ED) (such as SIRS or CURB-65). The impact of abnormal blood test values on mortality may change with increasing age due to (patho)-physiologic changes. The aim of this study was therefore to assess the effect of age on the case-mix adjusted association between biomarkers of renal function and homeostasis, inflammation and circulation and in-hospital mortality.

The association between vital signs and clinical outcomes in emergency department patients of different age categories.

Background: Appropriate interpretation of vital signs is essential for risk stratification in the emergency department (ED) but may change with advancing age. In several guidelines, risk scores such as the Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome SIRS) and Quick Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (qSOFA) scores, commonly used in emergency medicine practice (as well as critical care) specify a single cut-off or threshold for each of the commonly measured vital signs. Although a single cut-off may be convenient, it is unknown whether a single cut-off for vital signs truly exists and if the association between vital signs and in-hospital mortality differs per age-category.

The difference between the patients' initial and previously measured systolic blood pressure as predictor of mortality in older emergency department patients.

Purpose: To assess how often baseline systolic blood pressure (SBP) could be retrieved from the Electronic Health Record (EHR) in older Emergency Department (ED) patients. Second, to assess whether the difference between baseline SBP and initial SBP in the ED (ΔSBP) was associated with 30-day mortality.

Methods: A multicenter hypothesis-generating cohort study including patients  ≥ 70 years.

The Impact of Age on Predictive Performance of National Early Warning Score at Arrival to Emergency Departments: Development and External Validation.

Study Objective: To investigate how age affects the predictive performance of the National Early Warning Score (NEWS) at arrival to the emergency department (ED) regarding inhospital mortality and intensive care admission.

Methods: International multicenter retrospective cohorts from 2 Danish and 3 Dutch ED. Development cohort: 14,809 Danish patients aged ≥18 years with at least systolic blood pressure or pulse measured from the Danish Multicenter Cohort.

Sex differences in clinical presentation and risk stratification in the Emergency Department: An observational multicenter cohort study.

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate whether sex differences exist in disease presentations, disease severity and (case-mix adjusted) outcomes in the Emergency Department (ED).

Methods: Observational multicenter cohort study using the Netherlands Emergency Department Evaluation Database (NEED), including patients ≥ 18 years of three Dutch EDs. Multivariable logistic regression was used to study the associations between sex and outcome measures in-hospital mortality and Intensive Care Unit/Medium Care Unit (ICU/MCU) admission in ED patients and in subgroups triage categories and presenting complaints.

The association between presenting complaints and clinical outcomes in emergency department patients of different age categories.

Background And Importance: Although aging societies in Western Europe use presenting complaints (PCs) in emergency departments (EDs) triage systems to determine the urgency and severity of the care demand, it is unclear whether their prognostic value is age-dependent.

Objective: To assess the frequency and association of PCs with hospitalization and mortality across age categories.

Methods: An observational multicenter study using all consecutive visits of three EDs in the Netherlands Emergency department Evaluation Database.

Machine learning for developing a prediction model of hospital admission of emergency department patients: Hype or hope?

Objective: Early identification of emergency department (ED) patients who need hospitalization is essential for quality of care and patient safety. We aimed to compare machine learning (ML) models predicting the hospitalization of ED patients and conventional regression techniques at three points in time after ED registration.

Methods: We analyzed consecutive ED patients of three hospitals using the Netherlands Emergency Department Evaluation Database (NEED).

Frailty is associated with in-hospital mortality in older hospitalised COVID-19 patients in the Netherlands: the COVID-OLD study.

Background: During the first wave of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, older patients had an increased risk of hospitalisation and death. Reports on the association of frailty with poor outcome have been conflicting.

Objective: The aim of the present study was to investigate the independent association between frailty and in-hospital mortality in older hospitalised COVID-19 patients in the Netherlands.

Emergency department management of older people living with frailty: a guide for emergency practitioners.

Emergency Departments (EDs) are increasingly seeing more seriously unwell older people living with frailty. In the context of limited resources and increasing demand it's the ED practitioner's challenge to unpick this constellation of physical, psychological, functional and social issues.To properly assess older people living with frailty at the ED it is crucial to use an holistic approach.

Experiences with and attitudes towards geriatric screening among older emergency department patients: a qualitative study.

Background: The patient perspective on the use of screening for high risks of adverse health outcomes in Emergency Department (ED) care is underexposed, although it is an important perspective influencing implementation in routine care. This study explores the experiences with, and attitudes towards geriatric screening in routine ED care among older people who visited the ED.

Methods: This was a qualitative study using individual face-to-face semi-structured interviews.

The influence of a contoured seating base on pressure distribution and discomfort.

Purpose: This research paper examines how contouring of a wheelchair seating base can help prevent pressure sores by distributing pressure over the buttocks. Contouring wheelchair cushioning is already done to some extent and has proved to be beneficial for pressure distribution. We researched the effect of contouring the seating base, and whether contouring the seating base affects effectiveness in pressure distribution and perceived discomfort.