Clinical Features of Patients Presenting to the Emergency Department With Cardiovascular Adverse Reactions After COVID-19 mRNA Vaccination

BackgroundSince the implementation of the nationwide coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination campaign, emergency departments (EDs) have had an increasing number of patients reporting postvaccination cardiovascular adverse effects. We investigated the clinical features of patients who visited the ED for cardiovascular adverse reactions after COVID-19 mRNA vaccination.MethodsWe conducted a retrospective observational study in two EDs. Patients with cardiovascular adverse reactions after COVID-19 mRNA vaccination who visited EDs between June 1, 2021, and October 15, 2021, were selected. The clinical data of these patients were collected by reviewing medical records.ResultsAmong 683 patients, 426 (62.4%) were female. The number of patients in their 20s was the highest (38.9% of males, 28.2% of females) (P < 0.001). More patients visited the ED for adverse reactions following the first vaccine dose than following the second dose (67.6% vs. 32.2%). Chief complaints were chest pain/discomfort (74.4%), dyspnea (14.3%) and palpitation (11.3%). The final diagnosis was a nonspecific cause (63.1%), and 663 (97.1%) patients were discharged from the ED. The admission rate was higher in males than in females (3.9% vs. 1.9%). Myocarditis was diagnosed in four males, who showed mild clinical progression and were discharged within 5 hospital days.ConclusionMost patients who visited the ED with cardiovascular adverse reactions were discharged from the ED, but some were admitted for other medical diseases as well as adverse vaccine reactions. Therefore, further surveillance and a differential diagnosis of cardiovascular adverse events after COVID-19 mRNA vaccination should be considered by emergency physicians.     

2014~2017年我院急诊科患者特点分析

目的 分析我院急诊患者分布特点,加强我院急诊科科学管理,为急诊患者提供高效及时的急诊诊疗服务。方法 将2014年1月~2017年12月来我院急诊就诊患者的数据进行整理,分析我院急诊患者就诊特点和规律。结果 急诊患者多在30~59岁;每年1、2月急诊患者较多;每天急诊患者就诊集中在18:00~20:59时段;急诊患者以循环系统疾病、神经系统疾病、呼吸系统疾病、消化系统疾病、外伤为主;急诊死亡以循环系统疾病、神经系统疾病为主。结论 根据急诊患者就诊时间分布,对医院急诊科医护人员及医疗药品设备进行合理的安排和利用,避免因医护人员不足或药品设备提供不及时而产生的差错事故,从而提高急诊科医疗服务质量。     

急诊科护士对急救药物知识掌握现状分析

目的：了解急诊科护士对急救抢救药物知识的掌握情况。方法采用自设调查表,对四所三甲医院160名急诊科护士进行调查;问卷分两部分,第一部分内容护士一般情况,护士获取药物知识途径。第二部分内容为急救药物的用量剂型、药理知识、禁忌症和副作用、观察事项。结果不同年资、职称护士对急救药物知识掌握有统计学意义;护士获得药物知识的途径欠缺。结论提高急诊护士对抢救药物知识的掌握需通过全面学习达到,护士系统业务学习、说明书的解读,药物知识培训,是护士掌握抢救药物知识的有效途径。     

Comparison of Self-Administered Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Tool vs. Researcher Administered Tool in the Emergency Department

Background

Recent studies have shown that there is a high rate of post traumatic stress disorder in the inner city.

The Prevalence and Emergency Department Utilization of Patients Who Underwent Single and Double Inter-hospital Transfers in the Emergency Department: a Nationwide Population-based Study in Korea, 2016–2018

BackgroundInter-hospital transfer (IHT) for emergency department (ED) admission is a burden to high-level EDs. This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence and ED utilization patterns of patients who underwent single and double IHTs at high-level EDs in South Korea.MethodsThis nationwide cross-sectional study analyzed data from the National Emergency Department Information System for the period of 2016–2018. All the patients who underwent IHT at Level I and II emergency centers during this time period were included. The patients were categorized into the single-transfer and double-transfer groups. The clinical characteristics and ED utilization patterns were compared between the two groups.ResultsWe found that 2.1% of the patients in the ED (n = 265,046) underwent IHTs; 18.1% of the pediatric patients (n = 3,556), and 24.2% of the adult patients (n = 59,498) underwent double transfers. Both pediatric (median, 141.0 vs. 208.0 minutes, P < 0.001) and adult (median, 189.0 vs. 308.0 minutes, P < 0.001) patients in the double-transfer group had longer duration of stay in the EDs. Patient''s request was the reason for transfer in 41.9% of all IHTs (111,076 of 265,046). Unavailability of medical resources was the reason for transfer in 30.0% of the double transfers (18,920 of 64,054).ConclusionThe incidence of double-transfer of patients is increasing. The main reasons for double transfers were patient''s request and unavailability of medical resources at the first-transfer hospitals. Emergency physicians and policymakers should focus on lowering the number of preventable double transfers.     

Comparison of the Clinical Characteristics of Pediatric Poisoning Patients Who Visited Emergency Department Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic

BackgroundWe aimed to investigate changes in the clinical characteristics of pediatric poisoning patients who visited the emergency department (ED) before and during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.MethodsPoisoning cases below age 18 who visited the ED from January 2018 to December 2021 were retrospectively analysed. The study period was then divided into pre-COVID-19 and COVID-19 pandemic to compare poisoning patterns.ResultsDuring the study period, 86,153 visits to the pediatric ED had been recorded, with 625 patients being included the final analysis. During the COVID-19 period, the proportion of poisoned patients increased from 0.62% to 0.98%. The average age of the patients was higher in the COVID-19 period, with 53.4% of the cases being intentional (pre-COVID-19, 32.5%; P < 0.001). Moreover, 70.4% of poisoning cases during the COVID-19 period were caused by drugs (pre-COVID-19, 60.6%; P = 0.038). More patients underwent decontamination and laboratory investigation during the COVID-19 period than during the previous period (P = 0.007 and P < 0.001, respectively). The length of ED stay and the proportion of hospitalisation were significantly greater during the COVID-19 period. After analysing accidental poisoning cases, we found that antipyretics/nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and respiratory drugs were more common in the pre-COVID-19 group, whereas iron/vitamins, cardiovascular drugs and hormones were more common in the COVID-19 group. After analysing intentional poisoning cases, we found that 73.6% and 76.4% of the patients in the pre-COVID-19 and COVID-19 group had a history of psychiatric disease, respectively. Although no difference was observed in the frequency of previous first suicide attempts, 19.0% of the patients in the COVID-19 group attempted suicide more than three times.ConclusionDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, intentional poisoning cases, especially in adolescence, increased and were treated more. Many of the patients with intentional poisoning had a history of mental illness or suicide in the past. Therefore, it seems that policy consideration for mentally vulnerable adolescents during this new pandemic period is necessary.     

Comparison of Prognosis According to the Use of Emergency Medical Services in Patients with ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction

PurposeThis study aimed to compare long-term clinical outcomes according to the use of emergency medical services (EMS) in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) who arrived at the hospital within 12 hr of symptom onset.Materials and MethodsA total of 13104 patients with acute myocardial infarction were enrolled in the Korea Acute Myocardial Infarction Registry–National Institutes of Health from October 2011 to December 2015. Of them, 2416 patients with STEMI who arrived at the hospital within 12 hr were divided into two groups: 987 patients in the EMS group and 1429 in the non-EMS group. Propensity score matching (PSM) was performed to reduce bias from confounding variables. After PSM, 796 patients in the EMS group and 796 patients in the non-EMS group were analyzed. The clinical outcomes during 3 years of clinical follow-up were compared between the two groups according to the use of EMS.ResultsThe symptom-to-door time was significantly shorter in the EMS group than in the non-EMS group. The EMS group had more patients with high Killip class compared to the non-EMS group. The rates of all-cause death and major adverse cardiac events (MACE) were not significantly different between the two groups. After PSM, the rate of all-cause death and MACE were still not significantly different between the EMS and non-EMS groups. The predictors of mortality were high Killip class, renal dysfunction, old age, long door-to-balloon time, long symptom-to-door time, and heart failure.ConclusionEMS utilization was more frequent in high-risk patients. The use of EMS shortened the symptom-to-door time, but did not improve the prognosis in this cohort.     

武汉大学同仁医院暨武汉市第三医院烧伤科在应对新型冠状病毒肺炎疫情下的应急管理策略

武汉市作为新型冠状病毒肺炎疫情重灾区,新型冠状病毒肺炎患者数量自始至终占到全国的绝大多数,对本地医疗系统形成严峻挑战,尤其是对普通疾病治疗造成了巨大冲击。本文介绍了疫情暴发以来的战时状态下,武汉大学同仁医院暨武汉市第三医院烧伤科在医疗处置、感染防控、人力资源管理、工作模式转换、医务人员人性化关怀等方面采取的管理举措,以期对疫情期间各地烧伤科的临床工作提供参考与借鉴。     

Validation of the Shock Index,Modified Shock Index,and Age Shock Index for Predicting Mortality of Geriatric Trauma Patients in Emergency Departments

The shock index (SI), modified shock index (MSI), and age multiplied by SI (Age SI) are used to assess the severity and predict the mortality of trauma patients, but their validity for geriatric patients is controversial. The purpose of this investigation was to assess predictive value of the SI, MSI, and Age SI for geriatric trauma patients. We used the Emergency Department-based Injury In-depth Surveillance (EDIIS), which has data from 20 EDs across Korea. Patients older than 65 years who had traumatic injuries from January 2008 to December 2013 were enrolled. We compared in-hospital and ED mortality of groups categorized as stable and unstable according to indexes. We also assessed their predictive power of each index by calculating the area under the each receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) curve. A total of 45,880 cases were included. The percentage of cases classified as unstable was greater among non-survivors than survivors for the SI (36.6% vs. 1.8%, P < 0.001), the MSI (38.6% vs. 2.2%, P < 0.001), and the Age SI (69.4% vs. 21.3%, P < 0.001). Non-survivors had higher median values than survivors on the SI (0.84 vs. 0.57, P < 0.001), MSI (0.79 vs. 1.14, P < 0.001), and Age SI (64.0 vs. 41.5, P < 0.001). The predictive power of the Age SI for in-hospital mortality was higher than SI (AUROC: 0.740 vs. 0.674, P < 0.001) or MSI (0.682, P < 0.001) in geriatric trauma patients.     

Development and Validation of Simple Age-Adjusted Objectified Korean Triage and Acuity Scale for Adult Patients Visiting the Emergency Department

PurposeThe study aimed to develop an objectified Korean Triage and Acuity Scale (OTAS) that can objectively and quickly classify severity, as well as a simple age-adjusted OTAS (S-OTAS) that reflects age and evaluate its usefulness.Materials and MethodsA retrospective analysis was performed of all adult patients who had visited the emergency department at three teaching hospitals. Sex, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, pulse rate, respiratory rate, body temperature, O₂ saturation, and consciousness level were collected from medical records. The OTAS was developed with objective criterion and minimal OTAS level, and S-OTAS was developed by adding the age variable. For usefulness evaluation, the 30-day mortality, the rates of computed tomography scan and emergency procedures were compared between Korean Triage and Acuity Scale (KTAS) and OTAS.ResultsA total of 44402 patients were analyzed. For 30-day mortality, S-OTAS showed a higher area under the curve (AUC) compared to KTAS (0.751 vs. 0.812 for KTAS and S-OTAS, respectively, p<0.001). Regarding the rates of emergency procedures, AUC was significantly higher in S-OTAS, compared to KTAS (0.807 vs. 0.830, for KTAS and S-OTAS, respectively, p=0.013).ConclusionS-OTAS showed comparative usefulness for adult patients visiting the emergency department as a triage tool compared to KTAS.     

Evaluating the Utility of Rapid Point-of-Care Potassium Testing for the Early Identification of Hyperkalemia in Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease in the Emergency Department

Purpose

Severe hyperkalemia leads to significant morbidity and mortality if it is not immediately recognized and treated. The concentration of potassium (K⁺) in the serum increases along with deteriorating renal function. The use of point-of-care K⁺ (POC-K⁺) in chronic kidney disease (CKD) could reduce the time for an accurate diagnosis and treatment, saving lives. We hypothesized that POC-K⁺ would accurately report K⁺ serum level without significant differences compared to reference testing, regardless of the renal function of the patient.

Materials and Methods

The retrospective study was performed between January 2008 and September 2011 at an urban hospital in Seoul. The screening program using POC was conducted as a critical pathway for rapid evaluation and treatment of hyperkalemia since 2008. When a patient with CKD had at least one warning symptom or sign of hyperkalemia, both POC-K⁺ and routine laboratory tests were simultaneously ordered. The reliability of the two assays for serum-creatinine was assessed by intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) analysis using absolute agreement of two-way mixed model.

Results

High levels of reliability were found between POC and the laboratory reference tests for K⁺ (ICC=0.913, 95% CI 0.903-0.922) and between two tests for K⁺ according to changes in the serum-creatinine levels in CKD patients.

Conclusion

The results of POC-K⁺ correlate well with values obtained from reference laboratory tests and coincide with changes in serum-creatinine of patients with CKD.