Shark Related Injuries: A Case Series of Emergency Department Patients.

INTRODUCTION: Shark-related-injuries (SRIs) are not thoroughly evaluated in the medical literature given their rare occurrence. Previous studies involve the utilization of large-independent databases and have demonstrated that shark attacks appear to be increasing, even though mortality of SRIs has decreased from 51% in 1958 to 8.3% in 2001. METHODS: We performed a retrospective chart review on patients presenting to 10 emergency departments (ED) in southeastern Virginia from February 22, 2008 through December 31, 2016. We used a free-text search feature to identify patients documented to have the word "shark" in the record. We reported descriptive statistics for patient demographics, disposition, mortality, time of injury, body injury location, activity during injury, injury severity score (ISS), antibiotic use, and if the patient was in the International Shark Attack File(ISAF) or the Global Shark Attack File(GSAF). RESULTS: We identified 11 patients. Most patients were male (81.8%) and Caucasian (90.9%) with a mean age of 35 years old (SD = 13.4, range17-55). Most patients (72.7%) arrived to the ED by private vehicle. Seventy-eight percent of patients were safely discharged from the ED. There were no deaths. There was a bimodal distribution of the time of injury around noon and early evening. Only 1 of our patients was present in the GSAF and 4 were present in the ISAF. CONCLUSION: Most SRIs can be safely evaluated, treated, and discharged from the ED. Utilization of large databases for shark related research may underestimate its prevalence in the US. Further research is needed into the care of SRIs in the ED.

Screening elders in the emergency department at risk for mistreatment: a pilot study.

Impaired functional status is associated with risk of elder mistreatment. Screening for functional impairment in elderly patients admitted to emergency departments could be performed to identify patients at risk for elder mistreatment who might benefit from further evaluation. This study utilized a modified Identification of Seniors at Risk (ISAR) screening tool to identify the proportion of elderly at risk for mistreatment due to functional difficulties presenting to two emergency departments in southeastern Virginia, one urban, the other rural. Of a 180-patient cohort (90 per site), 82 screened positive (46%), ISAR > 2 (range 0-6), indicating nearly half of all patients enrolled are at risk for mistreatment. Patients presenting to the urban emergency departments were potentially more at risk than their rural counterparts (p < 0.01). Health care professionals, particularly in urban settings, should consider screening seniors with a simple tool to identify patients at risk of elder mistreatment.