Publications by authors named "Dennis Ferrante"
Background: There is no formal assessment to determine level of disability in the millions of patients with alcohol-induced impairment who present to emergency departments annually. Hack's Impairment Index (HII) is a standardized, serializable clinical tool designed to quantify ability. Nursing staff members at this center perform the HII and determine a score using paper prompts.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The January 1, 2018 closure of Memorial Hospital of RI (MHRI) has anecdotally resulted in operational strain for the area's remaining EDs. This study seeks to evaluate the impact on neighboring facilities.
Methods: An interrupted time-series analysis was conducted to compare operational outcomes and demographics pre- and post-MHRI closure.
Article Synopsis
- Over 35 million alcohol-impaired patients are treated in emergency departments each year, and a reliable assessment method for gauging their impairment is lacking.
- The study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of Hack's Impairment Index (HII score) in assessing alcohol impairment compared to traditional methods in a busy urban emergency department.
- Results showed that HII scores were better at determining the level of impairment than ethanol levels alone, declining predictably as patients received care, indicating it could be a valuable tool for emergency physicians.