The benefits of a virtual emergency department observation unit for hospital observation patients.

BACKGROUND: The benefit of virtual emergency department observation unit (EDOU) care relative to traditional observation care in an inpatient bed is unknown. OBJECTIVE: To determine if virtual observation care in an EDOU is associated with improved length of stay, cost, inpatient admission rate, and adverse events relative to traditional observation care in non-observation unit (NOU) inpatient bed. METHODS: This is a retrospective observational cohort study of observation patients managed over 24 months in two urban teaching hospitals. Following an ED visit, observation care occurred in a virtual-EDOU or NOU inpatient setting based on bed availability, physician discretion, and observation guidelines. Primary outcomes were length of stay, total cost, inpatient admission rate, and adverse events (death or ICU admission). Hospital cost and clinical databases were used. Analysis with a doubly-robust regression with entropy balancing and propensity scores was used to control for subgroup differences. RESULTS: 30,191 observation patients were divided into 13,753 NOU patients and 16,438 EDOU patients with similar distributions for age and gender, and differences in health insurance and diagnosis. For both discharged and admitted patients, the mean cost was higher in the NOU setting at $7989 than the virtual-EDOU setting at $4876 with an adjusted difference of $1951 (95% CI: $1762-$2133). The mean total length of stay was higher in the NOU setting (60.5 h) than the virtual-EDOU setting (36.4 h) with an adjusted difference of 20.4 h (95% CI: 19.2 h - 21.3 h). NOU inpatient admission rates were higher (25.3% vs 18.4%). Cost and length of stays were lower in discharged observation patients, with differences favoring the virtual-EDOU group. Adverse events were higher in the NOU setting (2.1% vs 0.8%). 30-day ED recidivism did not differ significantly between NOU and virtual-EDOU study groups. The virtual-EDOU saved the two hospitals $16,036,913 and 6986 bed-days annually. CONCLUSION: Management of observation patients in a virtual-EDOU setting is superior to care in a traditional inpatient setting in terms of costs, length of stays, inpatient admission and adverse events rates.

The Rwandan Healthcare System: Can a Shifting Burden of Disease Threaten a Post-war Success Story?

Rwanda is located in Central Africa, bordered by the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Burundi, Tanzania, and Uganda. In 1994, Rwanda was immersed in a brutal war and genocide. Rwanda's subsequent remarkable post-war recovery has been well documented. What this paper aims to do is to explore Rwanda's successes and the vulnerability it faces with the shifting burdens of diseases. This paper seeks to contribute to the global discourse on effective healthcare models in resource-limited, post-conflict settings, even as such countries achieve improved socio-economic conditions and experience associated changes in population disease patterns.

A Case Report of Spontaneous Pneumomediastinum From an Unusual Cause: Baritone Practice.

Spontaneous pneumomediastinum (SPM) is a rare but potentially life-threatening clinical entity in which free air is introduced into the mediastinum. It most commonly presents in young males and has an incidence of approximately 0.002% of the general population. Symptoms include sudden onset chest pain, dyspnea, neck pain, vomiting, and odynophagia. Physical examination usually reveals subcutaneous emphysema, hoarse voice, tachycardia, tachypnea, and occasionally a Hamman's sign, which is a mediastinal "crunch" sound heard on cardiac auscultation. We present a case of an 18-year-old male baritone player who presented to the ED with chest pain and odynophagia shortly after waking up one morning. The patient's chest radiograph (CXR) revealed free air in the mediastinum with subcutaneous air tracking into the soft tissues of the neck and supraclavicular region. CT of the chest with contrast esophagram confirmed the diagnosis of primary SPM. The cause of his condition was likely due to barotrauma secondary to playing the baritone in his marching band. He had no evidence of esophageal injury or infectious process which further supports the diagnosis of primary SPM. After an extensive workup, the patient was discharged from the ED with instructions on rest, analgesia, and antitussives as needed. Evaluation of chest pain patients in the ED should include a CXR, in addition to other indicated tests, to rule out this potentially debilitating condition. Fortunately, though SPM is potentially life-threatening, most cases resolve spontaneously without surgical intervention.