Etiologies and delirium rates of elderly ED patients with acutely altered mental status: a multicenter prospective study.

Objectives: Altered mental status (AMS) is a challenging diagnosis in older patients and has a large range of etiologies. The aim of this study was to investigate the nature of such etiologies for physicians to be better aware of AMS backgrounds and hence improve outcomes and mortality rates.

Methods: This prospective observational study was conducted at 4 emergency departments.

Admissions of critically ill patients to the ED intensive care unit.

Introduction: Many emergency departments (EDs) have established units capable of providing critical care because of increasing need for critical care, called as ED intensive care unit (EDICU). However, prolonged critical care leads to crowding, resulting in poor quality of care and high mortality rates. We aimed to determine which type of critically ill patients play a main role for crowding in the EDICU, and how to manage these patients.