EtCO2 vs. Standard Triage Vitals in Predicting In-Hospital Mortality and ICU Admission

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EtCO2 vs. Standard Triage Vitals in Predicting In-Hospital Mortality and ICU Admission

Boarding of admitted patients in the ED and subsequent overcrowding of ED’s continues to plague hospitals in the United States and Internationally.  The Covid-19 pandemic exacerbated an already growing problem regarding capacity management and patient flow. In this current climate, the Emergency Physician’s responsibilities continue to shift toward the front-end of the process, mainly patients waiting to be seen in the lobby.  As such, identifying sick patients in a timely manner and utilizing additional resources to predict patients at risk of clinical deterioration will be paramount moving forward.

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Prehospital Stroke Triage

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Prehospital Stroke Triage

Over the past 5 years, there has been a dramatic expansion of the treatment strategies used to treat patients with acute ischemic stoke. As some of these treatments involve specific resources only available at certain institutions, appropriate triage of patients in the prehospital environment is becoming ever important. On one hand a patient who would best benefit from endovascular treatment triaged to a center without that capability will undoubtedly suffer a delay in care. On the other hand, over-triaging stroke patients to a comprehensive stroke center could overwhelm the resources of that center, potentially impacting the care of patients at that center. In the podcast below, we talk with Dr. Jason McMullan of the UC EM Division of EMS and Dr. James Li, PGY-3 who both have recent publications focusing on this phase of patient care.

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