Background: There are a number of screening tools to predict return to the emergency department (ED) in elderly trauma patients, but none exist to specifically screen for functional decline after a minor injury. The objective of this study was to identify outcome measures for a possible future clinical decision rule to be used in the ED to identify previously independent patients at high risk of functional decline at six months post minor injury.
Methods: After a rigorous development process, a survey instrument was administered to a random sample of 178 emergency physicians using the Dillman's Tailored Design Method.
Results: Of 156 eligible surveys, we received 81 completed surveys (response rate 51.9%). Considering all 14 activities of daily living (ADL) items, 90% of physicians deemed a minimal clinically important difference (MCID) in function to be at least three points on the 28-point Older Americans Resources and Services (OARS) ADL Scale as clinically significant. A tool with a sensitivity of 93% to detect patients at risk of functional decline at six months post injury would meet or exceed the sensitivity deemed to be required by 90% of physicians. The majority of emergency physicians do not assess elderly injured patients for the majority of the tasks.
Conclusions: A drop of three points on the 28-point OARS ADL Scale would be deemed clinically important by the vast majority of emergency physicians. Further, a sensitivity of 93% for a clinical decision tool would satisfy the MCID requirements of the vast majority of emergency physicians. There appears to be a gap between physician knowledge and actual practice. We intend to use these findings in the development of a clinical decision rule to identify high-risk elderly trauma patients.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/cem.2015.37 | DOI Listing |
Lipids Health Dis
January 2025
Department of Neurosurgery, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Changzhou, Jiangsu, 213000, China.
Background: Stroke has emerged as an escalating public health challenge among middle-aged and older individuals in China, closely linked to glycolipid metabolic abnormalities. The Hemoglobin A1c/High-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol (HbA1c/HDL-C) ratio, an integrated marker of glycolipid homeostasis, may serve as a novel predictor of stroke risk.
Methods: Our investigation utilized data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study cohort (2011-2018).
Am J Emerg Med
January 2025
Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Michigan, 1500 E. Medical Center Drive, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, United States of America. Electronic address:
Bacterial meningitis is an increasingly rare disease that carries significant morbidity and mortality. We describe the case of a 38-year-old male with a past medical history of pituitary macroadenoma with prior endonasal surgeries on prednisone therapy daily for resultant hypopituitarism and juvenile myoclonic epilepsy on lamotrigine daily who was transferred to an academic tertiary emergency department due to concern for developing pituitary apoplexy. At the outside emergency department, the patient presented complaining of sudden onset severe headache.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAm J Emerg Med
January 2025
Maimonides Medical Center, Department of Emergency Medicine, 965 48th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11219, United States. Electronic address:
Objectives: To determine the accuracy of emergency physicians (EPs) in diagnosing pneumoperitoneum with POCUS, and if the volume of pneumoperitoneum affects accuracy.
Methods: POCUS clips were obtained from patients undergoing intraperitoneal insufflation for an elective laparoscopic procedure. Video clips of the right upper quadrant and epigastric regions were obtained prior to insufflation and then after 500 ml, 1000 ml, and 1500 ml of insufflation.
J Clin Med
January 2025
Department of Plastic, Hand, and Reconstructive Surgery, University Hospital Regensburg, 93053 Regensburg, Germany.
: For many years, advancements in hand joint replacement (JR) were relatively minor compared to those for large joints. However, the caution previously exercised due to high complication rates is gradually being replaced by the expanding use of JR therapies for small joints in the hand. Despite this progress, there is a lack of comprehensive data on the outcomes of hand JR and on the optimal infrastructure required to meet the growing demand for these therapies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCancers (Basel)
January 2025
Medical Oncology Unit 1, IRCCS Ospedale Policlinico San Martino, 16132 Genoa, Italy.
At the end of the past century, the introduction of Total Mesorectal Excision (TME), preceded by either short-course radiotherapy (SCRT) or chemoradiation (CRT), established the new standard of care for locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC). Recently, significant advancements were achieved for both dMMR/MSI and pMMR/MSS LARC patients. For the 2-3% of dMMR/MSI LARCs, ablative immunotherapy emerged as a curative approach, offering the possibility of avoiding chemotherapy (CT), radiotherapy, and surgery altogether.
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