A Pilot Study of the Performance Characteristics of the D-dimer in Presumed Sepsis.

Objectives: To determine if a sensitive D-dimer assay can exclude progression to organ dysfunction, death, and intensive care unit (ICU) admission in patients presenting to the emergency department (ED) with suspected infection, and if increasing levels of D-dimer are predictive of those end points.

Methods: The study took place at two academic EDs, both located in tertiary care hospitals. This was a prospective convenience sample of adult patients presenting with an infective process and at least two of four criteria for the Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome.

Accuracy of arrhythmia recognition in paramedic treatment of paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia: a ten-year review.

Objectives: To examine trends in paramedic rhythm misidentification rates in the use of adenosine for presumed paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia (PSVT) over a ten-year period, and to determine variables associated with rhythm misidentification.

Methods: The authors conducted a retrospective analysis of all cases in which paramedics treated presumed PSVT with adenosine from 1993 to 2002. Rhythm strips were categorized as narrow or wide-complex and regular or irregular.