Impact on Patient Management of a Novel Host Response Test for Distinguishing Bacterial and Viral Infections: Real World Evidence from the Urgent Care Setting.

Antibiotic overuse and underuse are prevalent in urgent care settings, driven in part by diagnostic uncertainty. A host-based test for distinguishing bacterial and viral infections (MeMed BV) has been clinically validated previously. Here we examined how BV impacts antibiotic prescription in a real-world setting.

Continuous glucose monitoring in patients undergoing cardiac surgery.

Objectives: Hyperglycemia is a prominent feature among patients exposed to major stress such as in cardiac surgery. The implementation of a continuous glucose monitoring system (CGMS) for glucose monitoring during cardiac surgery was assessed.

Subjects And Methods: Fifty-nine consecutive patients who underwent cardiac surgery were monitored by CGMS.

Supraglottic devices: a possible role in prehospital toxic mass casualty event?

Rapidly progressive respiratory failure is the leading cause of death from inhalation of toxic chemical warfare agents. In an expected chaotic scenario, direct laryngoscopic tracheal intubation is unlikely to be easily and quickly performed due to shortage of medical personnel experienced with laryngoscopy and/or reduced dexterity imposed by the protective gear worn by the caregivers. Supraglottic devices have increasingly been used for emergent airway control in prehospital settings, thus avoiding the need for laryngoscopy.

Prehospital care of orthopedic injuries.

Orthopedic injuries are predominant among combat casualties, and carry the potential for significant morbidity. An expert consensus process (Prehospital care of military orthopedic trauma: A consensus meeting, Israel Defense Forces Medical Corps, May 2003) was used to create guidelines for the treatment of these injuries by military prehospital providers. The consensus treatment guidelines developed by experienced orthopedic trauma personnel from leading trauma centers in Israel are presented in this paper.

Application of a cuirass and institution of biphasic extra-thoracic ventilation by gear-protected physicians.

Objectives: To evaluate the speed by which cuirass application, followed by biphasic extra-thoracic ventilation, can be instituted by full anti-chemical protective gear-wearing physicians.

Materials And Methods: Ten physicians of variable subspecialties applied a cuirass on an adult volunteer and instituted biphasic extra-thoracic ventilation, using the RTX respirator (Medivent, London, UK). Endotracheal (ET) intubation and manual ventilation of a mannequin and its ventilation was comparatively assessed.