Drowning rule-out with novices (DROWN) in ultrasound.

Objectives: Non-fatal drownings confer significant morbidity and mortality in the United States. Chest radiograph (CXR) is typically used as a screening modality for interstitial edema but lacks sensitivity early after submersion. No study has evaluated lung ultrasound in assessing for pulmonary edema after submersion events and we hypothesized that lung point-of-care (POC) ultrasound can identify interstitial edema in patients presenting after non-fatal drownings.

Rare complication of a commonly used antihypertensive agent: A case of hydralazine-induced ANCA-associated vasculitis presenting as rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis.

Hydralazine-induced ANCA-associated vasculitis is a rare clinical entity, with complications including rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis, pulmonary hemorrhage, and pulmonary-renal syndrome. We present this case to highlight the clinical features that support this challenging diagnosis and to emphasize the importance of prompt recognition and aggressive intervention given its significant morbidity and mortality.

Novice emergency physician ultrasonography of optic nerve sheath diameter compared to ophthalmologist fundoscopic evaluation for papilledema.

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to determine the sensitivity and specificity of novice emergency physician-performed point-of-care ultrasound diagnosis of papilledema using optic nerve sheath diameter (ONSD) against ophthalmologist-performed dilated fundoscopy. This observational study retrospectively analyzed results of ultrasound-measured ONSD of emergency department (ED) patients with suspected intracranial hypertension from a period spanning June 2014 to October 2017.

Methods: This study concerns a population of ED patients at a large, tertiary-care urban academic medical center from June 2014 to October 2017 over the age of 18 years with primary vision complaints evaluated for papilledema both by an emergency physician-performed ultrasound and an ophthalmologist-performed fundoscopic examination during their ED stay.

Influence of COVID-19 outbreak on emergency department Press Ganey scores of emergency physicians.

Background And Hypothesis: The authors investigate whether there is a difference in Press Ganey (PG; patient satisfaction scores) scores for the emergency physicians before and during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak at a regional group of emergency departments in the southeastern United States. The authors hypothesize that decreases in emergency department volume, less emergency department boarding of admissions, reduced use of hallway beds, and favorable attitudes toward emergency physicians during the COVID-19 outbreak may influence patient satisfaction scores measured in the Press Ganey surveys.

Study Design And Methods: The authors performed a retrospective review of PG scores obtained over the prior 7 months at 8 larger teaching hospitals in the Southeast region (Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina).