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Aims and objectives To understand the experiences and concerns of patients in the emergency department during inpatient boarding. Background Boarding in the emergency department is an increasingly common phenomenon worldwide. Emergency department staff, patients and their families become more stressed as the duration of boarding in the emergency department increases. Yet, there is limited knowledge of the experiences and concerns of boarded patients. Design The qualitative approach of phenomenography was used in the study. Methods The phenomenographic study was conducted in one emergency department that treats approximately 15,000 patients each month. Twenty emergency department boarding patients were recruited between July-September 2014. Semi-structured interviews were used for data collection. The seven steps of qualitative data analysis for a phenomenographic study - familiarisation, articulation, condensation, grouping, comparison, labelling and contrasting - were employed to develop an understanding of participants' experiences and concerns during their inpatient boarding in the emergency department. Results The perceptions that emerged from the data were collected into four categories of description of the phenomenon of emergency department boarding patients: a helpless choice; loyalty to specific hospitals and doctors; an inevitable challenge of life; and distrust of the healthcare system. The outcome space for the emergency department boarding patients was waiting and hoping for a cure. Conclusion The experiences and concerns of emergency department boarding patients include physical, psychological, spiritual and health system dimensions. It is necessary to develop an integrated model of care for these patients. Relevance to clinical practice Understanding the experiences and concerns of patients who are placed on boarding status in the ED will help emergency healthcare professionals to improve the quality of emergency care. There is a need to develop a care model and associated intervention measures for emergency department patients during the boarding process. The results of this study will help health regulatory authorities to develop an appropriate emergency department boarding system so that patients receive better emergency care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To understand how emergency nurses develop resilience in the context of workplace violence. Design: This study employed grounded theory methodology. Thirty nurses from three hospital emergency departments in Taiwan were interviewed between August and December 2018. Methods: Semistructured interviews were used to collect data. Interviews were audio‐recorded and transcribed verbatim. Findings: The process through which emergency nurses who had experienced workplace violence developed resilience took place in three stages: the release of emotions after the assault; the interpretation of conflicting thoughts and actions; and the establishment of strategies to cope with workplace violence in the future. The core theme was the motivating role of professional commitment to emergency patient care. Conclusions: The results of this study can inform the development of support systems to enhance the resilience of nurses experiencing workplace violence by alerting healthcare administrators and governing institutions to their needs. Clinical Relevance: Emergency nurses viewed professional growth and professional commitment as an invisible motivator in the development of resilience following an encounter with workplace violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Leukocytosis is a common laboratory finding in emergency departments worldwide. Various infectious diseases are common causes of leukocytosis in hospitalized adult patients. Most emergency physicians have a high awareness of sepsis or severe infection, which requires empirical antibiotics. However, there are many other etiologies for leukocytosis. The outcome of prescribing broad-spectrum antibiotics in the emergency department for leukocytosis patients is not well-understood. Objectives: Our objectives were to determine whether prescribing antibiotics in the emergency department affect outcome for hospitalized adult patients with leukocytosis. Methods: A retrospective cohort study of hospitalized adult emergency department patients with leukocytosis was conducted in a tertiary hospital in Taiwan between June 2016 and June 2017. Patients with leukocytosis (white blood cell count >11,000 cells per μL) who were admitted via the emergency department at the Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital, from June 2016 to June 2017 were enrolled. Patients aged ⩽18 years, pregnant women, those who received prophylactic antibiotics prior to operation, and those with a final diagnosis of hematologic malignancy were excluded from this study. The primary outcome measure was hospital stay, and the secondary outcome measure was mortality. All collected data were statistically analyzed. Results: A total of 8054 hospitalized adult patients with leukocytosis were included (the exclusion criteria included patients aged ⩽18 years, pregnant women, those who received prophylactic antibiotics prior to surgery, and those with a final diagnosis of hematologic malignancy); all patients were admitted via the emergency department. In all, 4486 patients received initial antibiotic treatment in the emergency department, whereas 3568 patients did not receive antibiotics in the emergency department and ward/intensive care unit within 3 days. There was no statistically significant difference in hospital days (p = 0.239) or mortality (p = 0.345) between those who received and did not receive antibiotics in the emergency department. Conclusion: Hospitalized adult patients with leukocytosis did not necessarily require antibiotics in the emergency department except when they had a differential diagnosis that requires antibiotic treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Published research on discharge planning is written from the perspective of hospital wards and community services. Limited research focuses on discharge planning in the emergency department (ED). The objective of this study was to identify ED nurses’ perceptions of factors influencing the implementation of discharge planning. This qualitative study collected data from 25 ED nurses through in-depth interviews and a drawing task in which participants were asked to depict on paper the implementation of discharge planning in their practice. Factors influencing discharge planning were grouped into three categories: discharge planning as a neglected issue in the ED, heavy workload, and the negative attitudes of ED patients and their families. The study highlighted a need for effective discharge planning to be counted as an essential clinical competency for ED nurses and factored into their everyday workload. Nurses perceived that organizational culture, and parents’ and relatives’ attitudes were barriers to implementing discharge teaching in the ED. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims and objectives. The purpose of this research was to explore the medical decision-making processes of patients in emergency departments. Background. Studies indicate that patients should be given enough time to acquire relevant information and receive adequate support when they need to make medical decisions. It is difficult to satisfy these requirements in emergency situations. Limited research has addressed the topic of decision-making among emergency patients. Design. This qualitative study used a broadly defined grounded theory approach to explore decision-making in an emergency department in Taiwan. Methods. Thirty emergency patients were recruited between June and December 2011 for semi-structured interviews that were audio-taped and transcribed verbatim. Results. The study identified three stages in medical decision-making by emergency patients: predecision (interpreting the problem); decision (a balancing act) and postdecision (reclaiming the self). Transference was identified as the core category and pattern of behaviour through which patients resolved their main concerns. This transference around decision-making represents a type of bricolage. Conclusions. The findings fill a gap in knowledge about the decision-making process among emergency patients. Relevance to clinical practice. The results inform emergency professionals seeking to support patients faced with complex medical decision-making and suggest an emphasis on informed patient decision-making, advocacy, patient-centred care and in-service education of health staff. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Dengue is a major health problem in tropical areas, including Taiwan. Dengue virus infection affects various types of cells and results in elevation of serum inflammatory molecules. Because these molecules may be associated with dengue virus infection, the aim of this study was to identify novel molecules in febrile patients with dengue infection. In addition, we determined whether these molecules were correlated with the count of leukocytes and platelets.Methods: Febrile adults (Age >18 years old) who presented to the emergency department and were confirmed dengue virus infection were enrolled in this study. Serum from dengue patients and healthy controls was collected and serum level of sepsis-associated inflammatory molecules was measured by Luminex assay.Results: Elevated level of macrophage migration inhibitory factor, soluble vascular cell adhesion molecule-1, sFasL, resistin and interferon-γ were detected in patients' serum. Higher levels of neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) and resistin were detected in dengue patients with normal leukocyte count and all dengue patients, respectively. Furthermore, the serum level of NGAL, but not resistin, was correlated with cell count in dengue patients.Conclusion: Our results revealed that resistin and NGAL are novel dengue-associated molecules. These results may help elucidate the regulatory mechanisms of anti-dengue immune responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate a machine learning (ML) model to predict invasive bacterial infections (IBIs) in young febrile infants visiting the emergency department (ED). Methods: This retrospective study was conducted in the EDs of three medical centers across Taiwan from 2011 to 2018. We included patients age in 0–60 days who were visiting the ED with clinical symptoms of fever. We developed three different ML algorithms, including logistic regression (LR), supportive vector machine (SVM), and extreme gradient boosting (XGboost), comparing their performance at predicting IBIs to a previous validated score system (IBI score). Results: During the study period, 4211 patients were included, where 126 (3.1%) had IBI. A total of eight, five, and seven features were used in the LR, SVM, and XGboost through the feature selection process, respectively. The ML models can achieve a better AUROC value when predicting IBIs in young infants compared with the IBI score (LR: 0.85 vs. SVM: 0.84 vs. XGBoost: 0.85 vs. IBI score: 0.70, p-value < 0.001). Using a cost sensitive learning algorithm, all ML models showed better specificity in predicting IBIs at a 90% sensitivity level compared to an IBI score > 2 (LR: 0.59 vs. SVM: 0.60 vs. XGBoost: 0.57 vs. IBI score >2: 0.43, p-value < 0.001). Conclusions: All ML models developed in this study outperformed the traditional scoring system in stratifying low-risk febrile infants after the standardized sensitivity level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Hyperlactatemia is known to be associated with adverse outcome in critical illness. In this study, we attempted to identify if hyperlactatemia on emergency department (ED) arrival is a reliable predictor for in-hospital mortality in necrotizing fasciitis (NF) patients. Method: A prospective cohort study of hospitalized patients with NF was conducted in two tertiary teaching hospitals in Taiwan between March 2010 and March 2018. Blood samples were collected in the ED upon arrival, and the lactate levels were determined. Sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) scores were calculated during the first 24 h after admission. All collected data were statistically analyzed. Result: Of the 707 NF patients, 40 (5.66%) died in the hospital. The median (interquartile range) blood lactate level in all NF patients was 3.6 mmol/l (2.2–4.8). The blood lactate level upon ED arrival was significantly associated with mortality (odds ratio [OR] = 1.35; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.30–1.46; P < 0.001), even after adjustment for age and SOFA score (OR = 1.27; P < 0.001). Multivariate regression analysis showed that a high blood lactate level (OR = 1.17; 95% CI, 1.07–1.29; P = 0.001) and a high SOFA score (OR = 1.15; 95% CI, 1.11–1.20; P < 0.001) were independent risk factors for in-hospital mortality in NF. Blood lactate achieved an area under-the-receiver-operating-characteristic curve (AUC) of 0.79 (P < 0.001) for predicting mortality that was similar to that of SOFA score (AUC = 0.82; P < 0.001). Blood lactate displayed a sensitivity of 62% and a specificity of 86% in predicting mortality at the optimal cutoff value of 5.80 mmol/l. Conclusion: In necrotizing fasciitis patients, hyperlactatemia on ED arrival is independently associated with in-hospital mortality. NF patients with hyperlactatemia on ED arrival should be closely monitored for signs of deterioration and consider early and aggressive intervention to prevent mortality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]