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Background: We aimed to define the epidemiological characteristics of poisoning cases in children that have occurred in Antalya, a major city in the Mediterranean. Methods: The hospital records of children between the ages of 0 to 17 yr admitted to the Pediatric Emergency Department of Antalya Training and Research Hospital, Antalya, Turkey due to poisoning in a 6-year period from 2012-2017 were evaluated. Results: Overall, 1507 poisoning cases were included in the study, of which 56% were female and 44% were male. Of them, 55% were between the ages of 0 and 5 yr, 10% were between 6 and 12, and 35% were between 13 and 17 year. In the 0-5 yr group, the poisonings were mostly in boys (55.1%) and were all accidental, while in children above 13, the poisonings were mostly in girls (77.8%) and suicide-related (97.1%). The poisonings were due to medication (64.5%) and chemical substances (35.5%). Among medication poisonings, the most common agents were paracetamol (18.0%), NSAID (15.2%) and antibiotics (8.0%). The most frequent chemical substances leading to poisoning were caustic/corrosive chemicals (22.8%) pesticides (8.0%). Interventions most commonly administered were activated charcoal (60.9%), gastric lavage (38.6%) and naso-gastric catheter (36.6%). Mortality was observed in 2 cases during six years. Conclusion: Knowledge on epidemiological and clinical features of poisoning in children according to age groups, establishing drug and chemical substance safety for children, and widespread parent education shall help decreasing childhood poisoning.

We assessed the effect of focused point of care ultrasound (POCUS) used for critical nontraumatic hypotensive patients presenting to the emergency department of our hospital on the clinical decisions of the physicians and whether it led to the modification of the treatment modality. This prospective clinical study was conducted at the Emergency Department of Antalya Training and Research Hospital. Nontraumatic patients aged 18 and older who presented to our emergency department and whose systolic blood pressure was 1 were included in the study. While the most probable preliminary diagnosis established by the physician before POCUS was consistent with the definitive diagnosis in 60.6% (n=109) of 180 patients included in the study, it was consistent with the definitive diagnosis in 85.0% (n=153) of the patients after POCUS (p

A 22-year-old boy presented to the emergency department with penile pain and acute urinary retention. The patient had a tender and painful mass along the distal volar surface of the penis, 5 cm away from the external urethral meatus. Bedside ultrasound was performed in the emergency department. Revealing penile urethral calculus in the emergency department with bedside sonography allowed a prompt diagnosis for the patient without additional invasion or radiation exposing diagnostic modalities such as Xray, CT or retrograde urethrography.

Background: In emergency medicine, ultrasound is frequently used in the diagnostic and therapeutic procedures and evaluation of treatment of critically ill patients simultaneously, due to its bedside applicability, rapidness and inexpensive cost. Aim: The competence of emergency physician in focused cardiac ultrasound evaluations and the success of diagnosing cardiac diseases were evaluated in a patient group presenting to the emergency department with complaints of non-traumatic chest pain and shortness of breath. Methods: We included patients with complaints of chest pain and shortness of breath and underwent cardiac ultrasound performed by emergency physician. Then, patients were evaluated by a cardiologist. The diagnoses made by the emergency physician were compared with the diagnoses made by the cardiologist. Results: A total of 303 patients were included. The diagnoses made by the emergency medicine specialist and cardiologist as a result of the evaluation were recorded as 56.7% vs 52.10% for acute coronary syndrome, 29.70% vs 31.60% for congestive heart failure, 3.6% vs 3.30% for pulmonary embolism, 2.1% vs 2.10% for hypertensive pulmonary edema, 1.9% vs 2.10% for pericarditis, and 0.60% vs 1.30% for aortic dissection. Conclusion: It was determined that focused cardiac ultrasound performed by emergency physician was sufficient in terms of accuracy of findings and diagnosis, and played an important role in excluding or including fatal diagnoses and conditions. The success rates of emergency physician can be further increased with long-term and comprehensive training programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]