Race and Sex Are Associated With Variations in Pain Management in Patients Presenting to the Emergency Department With Undifferentiated Abdominal Pain.

Background: Pain management is critical to the management of patients in the emergency department (ED). The clinical decision-making process for prescribing medications is complicated by its subjective nature. Historically, racial and ethnic minority groups and women have not had their pain managed as aggressively as White and male patients.

Elevated blood urea nitrogen/creatinine ratio is associated with poor outcome in patients with ischemic stroke.

Objective: Dehydration may impair cerebral oxygen delivery and worsen clinical outcome in patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS). We evaluated if elevated blood urea nitrogen to creatinine ratio (BUN/Cr) as a marker of dehydration was associated with poor clinical outcome in emergency department (ED) patients presenting with AIS.

Methods: We conducted a prospective cohort study using a stroke registry enrolling all ED patients with AIS from 10/2007 through 6/2009.

A novel emergency department dysphagia screen for patients presenting with acute stroke.

Objectives: Dysphagia is a common complication for emergency department (ED) patients presenting with acute stroke (AS). Recent stroke recommendations have suggested that EDs screen patients with AS for dysphagia prior to administering anything by mouth. This study sought to develop and test a novel ED dysphagia screen to be used in this population.