Predictive factors for early unplanned rehospitalization of older adults after an ED visit: role of the caregiver burden.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: For older adults, an Emergency Department (ED) visit represents a period of vulnerability that extends beyond the visit itself. This study aimed to determine the impact of the role of caregiver, and geriatric conditions of patients on early unplanned rehospitalization (EUR) within 3 months after an ED visit. METHODS: This prospective longitudinal experimental study included consecutively 173 patients aged 75 and older admitted in an ED over a 2-week period (18.7% of the total visits). Only older patients having a caregiver were analyzed (78.0%, n = 135). Medical conditions and a comprehensive geriatric assessment were recorded for each patient. All caregivers were interviewed about their tasks and emotional impact using the short Zarit Burden Inventory. Three months after, patients or their caregivers were called about the vital status, and EUR of patients. RESULTS: Among the patients included, 64.2% had an EUR and 28.9% of their caregivers reported a high level of burden. EUR was strongly associated with a high caregiver burden (OR 8.7, 95% CI 1.5-49.8). No association was found for patient's medical or geriatric status. Caregivers reported a significantly high burden when patients were malnourished, or were at risk of adverse health outcomes based on the ISAR scale, and when they had greater disabilities in IADLs and ADLs, or cognitive impairments. CONCLUSIONS: Many hospital readmissions after an ED visit may be preventable by identifying caregiver's high burden. Reasons that lead to this high burden should be checked at the first visit.

Undercorrection of hypernatremia is frequent and associated with mortality.

BACKGROUND: About 1% of patients admitted to the Emergency Department (ED) have hypernatremia, a condition associated with a mortality rate of 20 to 60%. Management recommendations originate from intensive care unit studies, in which patients and medical diseases differ from those in ED. METHODS: We retrospectively studied clinical characteristics, treatments, and outcomes of severely hypernatremic patients in the ED and risk factors associated with death occurrence during hospitalization. RESULTS: During 2010, 85 cases of severe hypernatremia ≥ 150 mmol/l were admitted to ED. Hypernatremia occurred in frail patients: mean age 79.7 years, 55% institutionalized, 28% with dementia.Twenty four percent of patients died during hospitalization. Male gender and low mean blood pressure (MBP) were independently associated with death, as well as slow natremia correction speed, but not the severity of hyperosmolarity at admission. Infusion solute was inappropriate for 45% of patients with MBP <70 mmHg who received hypotonic solutes and 22% of patients with MBP ≥ 70 mmHg who received isotonic solutes or were not perfused. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study assessing outcome of hypernatremic patients in the ED according to the treatment provided. It appears that not only a too quick, but also a too slow correction speed is associated with an increased risk of death regardless of initial natremia. Medical management of hypernatremic patients must be improved regarding evaluation and treatment.

Be careful with triage in emergency departments: interobserver agreement on 1,578 patients in France.

BACKGROUND: For several decades, emergency departments (EDs) utilization has increased, inducing ED overcrowding in many countries. This phenomenon is related partly to an excessive number of nonurgent patients. To resolve ED overcrowding and to decrease nonurgent visits, the most common solution has been to triage the ED patients to identify potentially nonurgent patients, i.e. which could have been dealt with by general practitioner. The objective of this study was to measure agreement among ED health professionals on the urgency of an ED visit, and to determine if the level of agreement is consistent among different sub-groups based on following explicit criteria: age, medical status, type of referral to the ED, investigations performed in the ED, and the discharge from the ED. METHODS: We conducted a multicentric cross-sectional study to compare agreement between nurses and physicians on categorization of ED visits into urgent or nonurgent. Subgroups stratified by criteria characterizing the ED visit were analyzed in relation to the outcome of the visit. RESULTS: Of 1,928 ED patients, 350 were excluded because data were lacking. The overall nurse-physician agreement on categorization was moderate (kappa = 0.43). The levels of agreement within all subgroups were variable and low. The highest agreement concerned three subgroups of complaints: cranial injury (kappa = 0.61), gynaecological (kappa = 0.66) and toxicology complaints (kappa = 1.00). The lowest agreement concerned two subgroups: urinary-nephrology (kappa = 0.09) and hospitalization (kappa = 0.20). When categorization of ED visits into urgent or nonurgent cases was compared to hospitalization, ED physicians had higher sensitivity and specificity than nurses (respectively 94.9% versus 89.5%, and 43.1% versus 30.9%). CONCLUSIONS: The lack of physician-nurse agreement and the inability to predict hospitalization have important implications for patient safety. When urgency screening is used to determine treatment priority, disagreement might not matter because all patients in the ED are seen and treated. But using assessments as the basis for refusal of care to potential nonurgent patients raises legal, ethical, and safety issues. Managed care organizations should be cautious when applying such criteria to restrict access to EDs.

[Interest of the combination of high-sensitivity troponine and copeptin in diagnosis of non ST elevation myocardial infarction]. / Intérêt de l'association de la copeptine et de la troponine ultrasensible dans le diagnostic des syndromes coronariens aigus sans sus décalage du segment ST aux urgences.

The diagnosis of non ST elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) is very important for the emergency doctor. According to the literature copeptin, a marker of the endogenous stress, combined with troponin could be of interest in this diagnosis. The objective of the study was to investigate the association of high-sensitivity (HS) troponin and copeptine to eliminate the diagnosis of NSTEMI or unstable angina (UA) in patients arriving in Casualty with a thoracic pain. This prospective study included patients showing up at Casualty with a thoracic pain less than 12 hours old. Copeptin was measured by the BRAHMS method at admission and HS troponin was measured at admission, after 2 and 6 hours. The patients also had a follow-up phone call after 3 months. The study included 114 patients with an average age of 54.6 years. NSTEMI was diagnosed for 8.8% of them and UA for 6.1%. The patients presenting NSTEMI or UA had a copeptin rate at admission higher than the others (24.7 pmol/L versus 7.1; p < 0.002). The negative predictive value of the association of HS troponin and copeptin was 95% whereas the sensitivity was 76.5% and the specificity 78.4%. The ROC curve analysis of the copeptin results brought to light a positivity limit which would have been more successful at 10.3 pmol/L than at 14.0. The association of copeptin and HS troponin can be useful to exclude the diagnosis of NSTEMI and favours faster treatment in Casualty.