Publications by authors named "Justin Lowes"
Objective: To document the occurrence and recovery outcomes of sports-related concussions (SRCs) presenting to the Emergency Department (ED) in a community-based sample.
Design: A prospective observational cohort study was conducted in 3 Canadian hospitals.
Setting: Emergency Department.
Low back pain is a common presentation to emergency departments, but the reasons why people choose to attend the emergency department have not been explored. We aimed to fill this gap with this study to understand why persons with low back pain choose to attend the emergency department. Between July 4, 2017 and October 1, 2018, consecutive patients with a complaint of low back pain presenting to the University of Alberta Hospital emergency department were screened.
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- The study investigated the impact of an electronic clinical practice guideline (eCPG) handout on the recovery of adult patients with concussions discharged from emergency departments in Canada.
- Out of 250 enrolled adults, those who received the eCPG handout reported fewer symptoms at 30 days post-injury, though symptom persistence at 90 days showed no significant difference between groups.
- While the eCPG improved short-term recovery, the overall adherence by physicians to the guidelines was low, indicating a need to address barriers to its use for better patient outcomes.
Objectives: Patients with concussion commonly present to the emergency department (ED) for assessment. Misdiagnosis of concussion has been documented in children and likely impacts treatment and discharge instructions. This study aimed to examine diagnosis of concussion in a general adult population.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Consultations in the emergency department (ED) are infrequently studied. This study quantifies the contribution of consultations to ED length of stay (LOS) and examines patient and consultation characteristics associated with prolonged ED LOS.
Methods: Prospective cohort study of a convenience sample of shifts by volunteering emergency physicians (EP) at two urban tertiary care Canadian EDs.
Several studies have demonstrated positive associations between day-to-day increases in air pollution and stroke. These findings have been inconsistent, and the influence of patient characteristics has been largely ignored. In this study, we investigated the short-term effects of air pollution on stroke using a time-stratified case-crossover design.
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