Clinical Significance of Carbon Monoxide Induced Myocardial Injury

PURPOSE: This study was performed for investigation of epidemiology, clinical characteristics, and serial value of cardiac troponin level of patients who had myocardial injury due to Carbon monoxide poisoning. METHODS: This study reviewed 98 cases of Carbon monoxide poisoning patients who visited Emergency Department from January 1, 2008 to October 31, 2013. We categorized them by two groups, one with elevation of cardiac troponin level and the other with normal level. We had comparison between two groups data using statistical analysis. RESULTS: Among 98 patients of Carbon monoxide poisoning who were admitted to hospital, 10 patients were excluded. 88 patients who were included to our study, 70 patients with normal value of Troponin, and 18 patients with elevated troponin level. Of all patients, Carbon monoxide inhalation due to suicided trial patients has more higher proportion in elevated troponin level group compared with normal group (40 (57.1%) vs 15 (83.3%), P=0.041). Furthermore, corrected QT interval, length of hospital stay, number of ICU admission, also were showed higher value in elevated troponin level group. CONCLUSION: Carbon monoxide induced myocardial injury is associated with subside trial, prolongation of correted QT interval, length of hospital stay, and number of ICU admission.

Value of Voluntary Intranet-based Medical Error Reporting System

PURPOSE: The emergency department is prone to medical errors due to the patients'acuity and complexity. Collection and monitoring of data on medical errors are essential for setting priorities and improving patient safety. METHODS: Emergency physicians report medical errors voluntarily with an intranet-based error reporting system. The system is confidential and anonymous. Data on medical errors was collected at the emergency department of a tertiary teaching hospital with approximately 76,000 annual visits, during a nine-month period from April to December 2008. The collected data was analyzed prospectively. RESULTS: Of the 238 reports collected, 204 errors were analyzed. 90.6% of the errors were related to doctors and 21% were related to nurses. Error types were classified into clinical errors (57%), medication errors (7%) and administrative errors (35%). The levels of impact on patients caused by these errors were classified as near-miss in 28 (13%), no harm in 93 (45%), mild harm in 66 (32%), lethal in 5 (2%) and death in 2 (1%) cases. Errors that occurred in the elderly group (over 60 years of age) had more harmful impact than in other age groups (p=0.0003). The causes of these errors were human in 147 (72%), systems in 23 (11%) and both human and systems in 34 (17%). Most of these errors were preventable (99%). CONCLUSION: Data collected by the intranet-based medical error reporting system is useful to classify and analyze medical errors, and is also essential in the implementation of a patient safety system.

Analysis of Delayed Diagnosis of Pediatric and Adolescent Patients Injured by Minor Trauma

PURPOSE: To analyze delayed diagnosis, we collected date on pediatric and adolescent patients who had been admitted to the Emergency Department with injuries due to minor trauma METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed the age distribution, trauma mechanism, time interval for each affected body region at delayed diagnosis, hospital stay, and outcome for 161 pediatric and adolescent patients who had been admitted to the Emergent Department of Gachon University Gil Hospital from January 2006 to September 2008. RESULTS: The incidence of delayed diagnosis in pediatric and adolescent trauma was 11.8% in our retrospective review of 161 pediatric and adolescent patients. Lengths of hospitalization were longer in patients with delayed diagnosis (p<0.05). Patients with delayed diagnosis were more often transferred to other hospitals than patients with non-delayed diagnosis (p<0.05). The time intervals for each different affected body regions at delayed diagnosis were significantly different, but the hospital stays were not. There were no statistical significance to age on affected body region. CONCLUSION: From this study, we found that admission result and hospital stay were statistically significant differences between the delayed-diagnosis patient group and the non-delayed-diagnosis patient group. Finally, we must follow up pediatric and adolescent patients with minor trauma, closely considering missed injuries.

Clinical Profiles of Patients who Undergone Emergency Angiographic Embolization at Emergency Department

PURPOSE: Hemodynamically unstable pelvic fractures represent therapeutic challenges for the trauma team. The authors of this article have studied the clinical profiles of the angiographic intervention population at the emergency department during four years (2005~2009) to develop clinical guidelines for preventing deaths due to multiple trauma and for predicting the prognosis during initial evaluation. METHODS: We performed a retrospective review of 34 patients who had undergone angiographic interventions at the emergency department and compared the differences in clinical variables between survivors and non-survivors. RESULTS: Representative values were compared between survivors and non-survivors : RTS (revised trauma score) 7.006 (6.376~7.841) vs. 6.128 (4.298~6.494), PRC (packed red cell) units 5.5 (2.0~11.0) vs. 15 (8.0~18.5), and lactate (mmol/L) 3.0 (1.0~7.0) vs. 8.5 (3.5~10.5). RTS (p<0.01) and PRC units before angiographic interventions (p=0.01) and lactate (p=0.02) had correlations to the final outcomes. CONCLUSION: The availability of an angiographic suite and persistent hypotension after adequate fluid resuscitation for pelvic trauma are good indications of angiographic intervention for pelvic hemorrhage.