Robyn M. Hoelle

Recommended guidelines for uniform reporting of data from drowning: the “Utstein style”

This document presents the consensus of a group of international investigators who met to establish guidelines for the uniform reporting of data from studies of drowning incidents. The consensus process consisted of formal discussions at 3 international meetings as well as expert review, endorsements from multiple organizations, and invited recommendations from other interested parties. The concept of using consensus workshops to formulate guidelines is not new. Similar consensus guidelines for reporting surveillance and resuscitation research have been developed for both adult and pediatric cardiac arrest.1–3 The principal purpose of the recommendations in this advisory is to establish consistency in the reporting of drowning-related studies, both in terms of nomenclature and guidelines for reporting data. These recommendations are intended to improve the clarity of scientific communication and the comparability of scientific investigations. Improved clarity and comparability of future scientific reports will advance the clinical and epidemiological knowledge base. In turn, such studies can help identify appropriate prevention strategies as well as the best treatment for victims of drowning and can ultimately save lives. Laboratory and clinical investigators from many different specialties contribute to the multidisciplinary knowledge base of injury prevention and resuscitation science. Although diversity can be a strength, it can also be an obstacle because of the lack of a common language and communication between investigators from different backgrounds. In response to these problems, in June 1990 an international group of scientists concerned with research involving out-of-hospital cardiac arrest met at the Utstein Abbey in Stavanger, Norway. Participants discussed the lack of standardized nomenclature and definitions as a key problem in research reports. A second meeting, the Utstein Consensus Conference, was held in December 1990 in Brighton, England. Recommendations from this follow-up conference were published simultaneously in American and European journals.4,5 The report included uniform definitions, terminology, and …

TBI surveillance using the common data elements for traumatic brain injury: a population study

BackgroundTo characterize the patterns of presentation of adults with head injury to the Emergency Department.MethodsThis is a cohort study that sought to collect injury and outcome variables with the goal of characterizing the very early natural history of traumatic brain injury in adults. This IRB-approved project was conducted in collaboration with our Institution’s Center for Translational Science Institute. Data were entered in REDCap, a secure database. Statistical analyses were performed using JMP 10.0 pro for Windows.ResultsThe cohort consisted of 2,394 adults, with 40% being women and 79% Caucasian. The most common mechanism was fall (47%) followed by motor vehicle collision (MVC) (36%). Patients sustaining an MVC were significantly younger than those whose head injury was secondary to a fall (P < 0.0001). Ninety-one percent had CT imaging; hemorrhage was significantly more likely with worse severity as measured by the Glasgow Coma Score (chi-square, P < 0.0001). Forty-four percent were admitted to the hospital, with half requiring ICU admission. In-hospital death was observed in 5.4%, while neurosurgical intervention was required in 8%. For all outcomes, worse TBI severity per GCS was significantly associated with worse outcomes (logistic regression, P < 0.0001, adjusted for age).ConclusionThese cohort data highlight the burden of TBI in the Emergency Department and provide important demographic trends for further research.

Impact of Helmet Use in Traumatic Brain Injuries Associated with Recreational Vehicles

Objective. To study the impact of helmet use on outcomes after recreational vehicle accidents. Methods. This is an observational cohort of adult and pediatric patients who sustained a TBI while riding a recreational vehicle. Recreational vehicles included bicycles, motorcycles, and all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), as well as a category for other vehicles such as skateboards and scooters. Results. Lack of helmet use was significantly associated with having a more severe traumatic brain injury and being admitted to the hospital. Similarly, 25% of those who did wearing a helmet were admitted to the ICU versus 36% of those who did not (P = 0.0489). The hospital length of stay was significantly greater for patients who did not use helmets. Conclusion. Lack of helmet use is significantly correlated with abnormal neuroimaging and admission to the hospital and ICU; these data support a call for action to implement more widespread injury prevention and helmet safety education and advocacy.

Emergency department crowding and time to antibiotic administration in febrile infants.

Introduction: Early antibiotic administration is recommended in newborns presenting with febrile illness to emergency departments (ED) to avert the sequelae of serious bacterial infection. Although ED crowding has been associated with delays in antibiotic administration in a dedicated pediatric ED, the majority of children that receive emergency medical care in the United States present to EDs that treat both adult and pediatric emergencies. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between time to antibiotic administration in febrile newborns and crowding in a general ED serving both an adult and pediatric population. Methods: We conducted a retrospective chart review of 159 newborns presenting to a general ED between 2005 and 2011 and analyzed the association between time to antibiotic administration and ED occupancy rate at the time of, prior to, and following infant presentation to the ED. Results: We observed delayed and variable time to antibiotic administration and found no association between time to antibiotic administration and occupancy rate prior to, at the time of, or following infant presentation (p>0.05). ED time to antibiotic administration was not associated with hospital length of stay, and there was no inpatient mortality. Conclusion: Delayed and highly variable time to antibiotic treatment in febrile newborns was common but unrelated to ED crowding in the general ED study site. Guidelines for time to antibiotic administration in this population may reduce variability in ED practice patterns.

Evaluation of Healthcare Use Trends of High-Risk Female Intimate Partner Violence Victims

Introduction Practitioners need more information about intimate partner violence (IPV) victims’ healthcare use trends. We used a novel data-linkage method and complaint categorization allowing us to evaluate IPV victims healthcare use trends compared to the date of their victimization. Methods This was a retrospective case series using data-linking techniques cross-referencing databases of Medicaid-eligible women between the ages of 16 and 55 years, an IPV Case Database for 2007 and the Florida State Agency for Healthcare Administration, which tracks hospital inpatient, ambulatory and emergency department (ED) use within the State of Florida. We analyzed resulting healthcare visits 1.5 years before and 1.5 years after the women’s reported IPV offense. Using all available claims data a ‘complaint category’ representing categories of presenting chief complaints was assigned to each healthcare visit. Analysis included descriptive statistics, correlation coefficients between time of offense and visits, and a logistic regression analysis. Results The 695 victims were linked with 4,344 healthcare visits in the four-year study period. The victims were young (46% in the 16–25 age group and 79% were younger than 35). Healthcare visits were in the ED (83%) rather than other healthcare sites. In the ED, IPV victims mostly had complaint categories of obstetrics and gynaecology-related visits (28.7%), infection-related visits (18.9%), and trauma-related visits (16.3%). ED use escalated approaching the victim’s date of offense (r=0.59, p<0.0001) compared to use of non-ED sites of healthcare use (r=0.07, p=0.5817). ED use deescalated significantly after date of reported offense for ED visits (r=0.50, p<0.0001) versus non-ED use (r=0.00, p=0.9958). The victims’ age group more likely to use the ED than any other age group was the 36–45 age group (OR 4.67, CI [3.26–6.68]). Conclusion IPV victims use the ED increasingly approaching their date of offense. Presenting complaints were varied and did not reveal unique identifiers of IPV victims. This novel method of database matching between claims data and government records has been shown to be a valid way to evaluate healthcare utilization of at-risk populations.

Dyspnea, tachycardia, and new onset seizure as a presentation of wilms tumor: a case report.

Wilms tumor is found in 1 in 10,000 children and most commonly presents in asymptomatic toddlers whose care givers notice a nontender abdominal mass in the right upper quadrant. This case of Wilms tumor presented as a critically ill eleven-year old with significant tachypnea, dyspnea, vague abdominal pain, intermittent emesis, new onset seizure, metabolic acidosis, and hypoxemia. This is the first case in the literature of Wilms Tumor with cavoatrial involvement and seizure and pulmonary embolism resulting in aggressive resuscitation and treatment. Treatment included anticoagulation, chemotherapy, nephrectomy, and surgical resection of thrombi, followed by adjunctive chemotherapy with pulmonary radiation.

Gunshot Wound Contamination with Squirrel Tissue: Wound Care Considerations

While report of animal bites contaminating wounds is reported commonly, direct wound contamination with squirrel flesh has never been reported in the literature. The patient suffered an accidental self-inflicted gunshot wound that drove squirrel flesh and buck shot deep within his right buttock. This case outlines his hospital course and wound treatment. The patient was treated with ten days of broad spectrum antibiotics, extensive debridement of the wound in the operating room, and further treatment of the wound with a vacuum dressing system. While squirrel tissue and buckshot had to be removed from the wound on day six of the hospital stay, the patient remained afebrile without signs or symptoms of systemic illness.

Severe unexplained relative hypotension and bradycardia in the emergency department.

A precipitous episode of hypotension with concomitant bradycardia is a true medical emergency especially in patients with chronic hypertension and often requires hospitalization for detailed interrogation of the underlying causes. We describe herein a case of a patient with chronic labile hypertension who presented to the ED with a sharp drop in blood pressure and heart rate which was not simply explained by an antihypertensive overdose but more so by an aggregate of the patients multiple chronic medical conditions. This report highlights the complexities of treating simultaneous hypotension and bradycardia and the importance of discerning the underpinnings of the causes including past medical issues, patient medications, and the timeline of key events leading to the issue at hand.