Defining emergency telehealth.

The American College of Emergency Physicians Emergency Telehealth Section was charged with development of a working definition of emergency telehealth that aligns with the College's definition of emergency medicine. A modified Delphi method was used by the section membership who represented telehealth providers in both private and public health-care delivery systems, academia and industry, rural and urban settings. Presented in this manuscript is the final definition of emergency telehealth developed with an additional six clarifying statements to address the context of the definition. Emergency telehealth is a core domain of emergency medicine and is inclusive of remotely providing all types of care for acute conditions of any kind requiring expeditious care irrespective of any prior relationship. The development of this definition is important to the global community of emergency physicians and all patients seeking acute care to ensure that appropriately trained clinicians are providing the highest quality of emergency services via the telehealth modality. We recommend implementing emergency telehealth in a manner that ensures appropriate qualifications of providers, appropriate/parity reimbursement for telehealth services and, most importantly, the delivery of quality care to patients in a safe, efficient, timely and cost-effective manner.

A prospective feasibility trial of a novel intravascular catheter system with retractable coiled tip guidewire placed in difficult intravascular access (DIVA) patients in the Emergency Department.

The primary study objective was to evaluate insertion success rates. Secondary objectives included patient satisfaction, procedure time, complication rates, completion of therapy and dwell time of the novel AccuCath® 2.25″ Blood Control (BC) Catheter System (FDA approved) placed in difficult-access patients. This was a single-arm feasibility trial evaluating the AccuCath® 2.25″ BC Catheter System in a convenience sample of DIVA patients defined as at least two failed initial attempts or a history of difficult access plus the inability to directly visualize or palpate a target vein. All enrolled patients were 18 years of age or older. A total of 120 patients were enrolled. These patients had an average of 3.7 and median of 3 prior attempts at vascular access prior to AccuCath placement. Successful access was gained in 100% of the patients, 77% on the first attempt and all within three attempts; 88.5% of patients completed therapy, with the remaining 12.5% experiencing minor complications that required discontinuation of the catheter. The average patient satisfaction score on a 5-point Likert scale was highly positive at 4.6. Preliminary results show that the AccuCath® 2.25″ BC Catheter System has excellent success rates in gaining vascular access in an extremely difficult patient population. The device did not lead to any significant complications. Patients were also very satisfied with the procedure.

Remote management of low to intermediate risk chest pain: A case series.

We report a case series of three low to intermediate risk chest pain patients who presented to the emergency department and were managed as outpatients via the Cellular Outpatient Twelve-Lead Telemetry with Emergency Response (COTTER™). This technology allows for certain chest pain patients to be managed remotely via telemedicine while receiving care comparable to that which would be available in a hospital or chest pain observation unit.

Remote Management of Atrial Fibrillation: A Case Report.

We report a case of new-onset atrial fibrillation with rapid ventricular response in a 37-year-old male who presented to the emergency department. This patient was not admitted to the hospital or placed on observation, but rather placed on a cellular outpatient 12-lead telemetry (COTLT) device with emergency response capabilities and discharged home. We define a new modality that allows these patients to be managed via telemedicine and receive care similar to that which would be rendered in a hospital or observation unit.

Seldinger Technique for Placement of "Peripheral" Internal Jugular Line: Novel Approach for Emergent Vascular Access.

This is a case report describing the ultrasound-guided placement of a peripheral intravenous catheter into the internal jugular vein of a patient with difficult vascular access. Although this technique has been described in the past, this case is novel in that the Seldinger technique was used to place the catheter. This allows for safer placement of a longer catheter (2.25″) without the need for venous dilation, which is potentially hazardous.

Prevalence of the "double-line" sign when performing focused assessment with sonography in trauma (FAST) examinations.

The double-line sign (DLS) is a wedge-shaped hypoechoic area in Morison's pouch bounded on both sides by echogenic lines. It represents a false-positive finding for free intraperitoneal fluid when performing focused assessment with sonography in trauma examinations. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of DLS. Secondarily, the study will further investigate the relationship between the presence of a DLS and body mass index (BMI). This was a prospective study that enrolled patients over a 7-month period. Inclusion criteria were patients ≥ 18 years of age presenting to the Emergency Department (ED) requiring a FAST examination as part of the patient's standard medical care. Each examination was performed by one of six experienced ultrasonographers. Presence or absence of the DLS was established in real time and gender, height, weight, and BMI were recorded for each patient. The overall prevalence rate of DLS and the corresponding 95 % confidence interval were calculated, as well as the prevalence rates broken down by BMI characterized as underweight, normal weight, overweight, and obese; and age category (18-29, 30-64, and 65+). The Chi-square test and a Fisher's exact test for BMI category were used to compare the prevalence rates of positive DLS among the different demographic groups. 100 patients were enrolled in the study; the overall prevalence was 27 %. There was no statistical significance among the different demographic groups or BMI. The DLS is a prevalent finding. We believe this sign has become more apparent due to improved imaging technology and resolution.

Point-of-care ultrasound used to exclude penile fracture.

This is a case report of a superficial penile hematoma that was difficult to distinguish clinically from a penile fracture. Such cases occur with relative frequency, and because definitive treatment is an urgent surgery, timely diagnosis is essential to avoid complications. Typical imaging modalities such as cavernosonography and magnetic resonance imaging can be invasive (cavernosonography) or time consuming (magnetic resonance imaging) and may not be readily available. Ultrasound has been used successfully in such cases, and, in this case, we used point-of-care ultrasound combined with a brief period of observation to exclude penile fracture.

Infected urachal cyst initially misdiagnosed as an incarcerated umbilical hernia.

BACKGROUND: Urachal abnormalities are a rare cause of lower abdominal pain. They are often initially mistaken for more common causes of lower abdominal pain, and the diagnosis is usually made during evaluation for one of these more common conditions. CASE REPORT: We report a case of a painful periumbilical mass ultimately diagnosed as an infected urachal cyst. Although the cyst was evident sonographically, it was misidentified as an umbilical hernia, and the correct diagnosis was not made until the patient underwent computed tomography of the abdomen and pelvis before surgery. CONCLUSION: Emergency physicians should consider urachal disease in patients presenting with lower abdominal pain and should also be familiar with both the clinical and radiologic findings characteristic of this disease.

Cervical ectopic pregnancy diagnosed by point-of-care emergency department ultrasound.

BACKGROUND: Although rare, cervical ectopic pregnancy (EP) represents a potentially lethal variation of a common first-trimester disease entity. CASE REPORT: We report a case of low abdominal pain and vaginal bleeding diagnosed as a cervical EP by point-of-care ultrasound. CONCLUSION: Familiarity with cervical EP and its sonographic appearance is essential for emergency physicians because it can be easily mistaken for an intrauterine pregnancy or other obstetric/gynecologic pathology, such as an incomplete abortion or nabothian cyst. The management of each of these differs substantially, making accurate diagnosis crucial.

Eccentrically located intrauterine pregnancy misdiagnosed as interstitial ectopic pregnancy.

This is a case report of an eccentrically located intrauterine pregnancy initially diagnosed as an interstitial ectopic pregnancy. Although interstitial ectopic pregnancy represents a well-known pitfall in first-trimester sonography, the common error is to misidentify the ectopic pregnancy as intrauterine, not the reverse. Such an error is potentially catastrophic because it may lead to the inadvertent termination of a viable pregnancy. Although the role of ultrasonography for evaluation of ectopic pregnancy is well established, its diagnostic accuracy for interstitial ectopic pregnancy remains uncertain. Because of this, sonographic findings should be considered suggestive, but not diagnostic, in this setting.