Search

Background Accurate recording of delirium in discharge summaries (DS) and hospital administrative systems (HAS) is critical for patient care. Objective To systematically review studies reporting the frequency of delirium documentation and coding in DS and HAS, respectively. Method We searched Medline, Embase, PsycINFO and Web of Science databases from inception to 23 June 2021. Eligibility criteria included requiring the term delirium in DS or HAS. Screening and full-text reviews were performed independently by two reviewers. Risk of bias (RoB) was assessed using the Effective Public Health Practice Project tool. Results The search yielded 7,910 results; 24 studies were included. The studies were heterogeneous in design and size (N=25 to 809,512). Mean age ranged from 57 to 84 years. Four studies reported only overall DS documentation and HAS coding in whole hospital or healthcare databases. Twenty studies used additional delirium ascertainment methods (e.g. chart review) in smaller patient subsets. Studies reported either DS figures only (N=8), HAS figures only (N=11), or both (N=5). Documentation rates in DS ranged from 0.1% to 64%. Coding rates in HAS ranged from 1.5% to 49%. Some studies explored the impact of race, and nurse versus physician practice. No significant differences were reported for race; one study reported that nurses showed higher documentation rates in DS relative to physicians. Most studies (N=22) had medium to high RoB. Conclusion Delirium is a common and serious medical emergency, yet studies show considerable under-documentation and under-coding in healthcare systems. This has important implications for patient care and service planning. Healthcare systems need to take action to reach satisfactory delirium documentation and coding rates.

Background: The utility of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain in patients with transient or minor neurological symptoms is uncertain. We sought to determine the proportion of participants with transient or minor neurological symptoms who had MRI evidence of acute ischemia at different clinical probabilities of transient ischemic attack (TIA) or minor stroke. Methods: Cohort of participants with transient or minor neurological symptoms from emergency and outpatient settings. Clinicians at different levels of training gave each participant a diagnostic probability (probable when TIA/stroke was the most likely differential diagnosis; possible when TIA/stroke was not the most likely differential diagnosis; or uncertain when diagnostic probability could not be given) before 1.5 or 3T brain MRI ≤5 days from onset. Post hoc, each clinical syndrome was defined blind to MRI findings as National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke criteria TIA/stroke; International Headache Society criteria migraine aura; non-TIA focal symptoms; or nonfocal symptoms. MRI evidence of acute ischemia was defined by 2 reads of MRI. Stroke was ascertained for at least 90 days and up to 18 months after recruitment. Results: Two hundred seventy-two participated (47% female, mean age 60, SD 14), 58% with MRI ≤2 days of onset. Most (92%) reported focal symptoms. MR evidence of acute ischemia was found, for stroke/TIA clinical probabilities of probable 23 out of 75 (31% [95% CI, 21%–42%]); possible 26 out of 151 (17% [12%–24%]); and uncertain 9 out of 43, (20% [10%–36%]). MRI evidence of acute ischemia was found in National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke criteria TIA/stroke 40 out of 95 (42% [32%–53%]); migraine aura 4 out of 38 (11% [3%–25%]); non-TIA focal symptoms 16 out of 99 (16% [10%–25%]); and no focal features 1 out of 29 (3% [0%–18%]). After MRI, a further 14 (5% [95% CI, 3–8]) would be treated with an antiplatelet drug compared with treatment plan before MRI. By 18 months, a new ischemic stroke occurred in 9 out of 61 (18%) patients with MRI evidence of acute ischemia and 2 out of 211 (1%) without (age-adjusted hazard ratio, 13 [95% CI, 3–62]; P Conclusions: MRI evidence of acute brain ischemia was found in about 1 in 6 transient or minor neurological symptoms patients with a nonstroke/TIA initial diagnosis or uncertain diagnosis. Methods to determine the clinical and cost-effectiveness of MRI are needed in this population.

ObjectiveTreatment of acute myocardial infarction (MI) requires rapid transfer of people with chest pain to hospital, however, unscheduled care pathways vary in their directness (the minimal number of contacts to hospital admission). The aim was to examine unscheduled care pathways and the associations with mortality in people admitted with MI.MethodsRetrospective population study of all people admitted to Scottish hospitals with a diagnosis of MI between 1 January 2015 and 31 December 2017. Linked data for all National Health Service Scotland unscheduled care services (NHS24 telephone triage service, primary care out of hours, ambulance, emergency department (ED)) was used to define continuous unscheduled care pathways (pathways), which were categorised by initial contact, and whether they were ‘direct’ (had minimum number of contacts between first contact and admission). Analysis estimated ORs and 95% CIs in adjusted models in which all covariates were included.Results26 325 people admitted with MI (63.1% men, 61.6% aged 65+ years), of whom 5.6% died from coronary heart disease within 28 days. For 47.0%, the first unscheduled care contact was ambulance, 23.3% attended ED directly and 18.7% called telephone triage. 92.1% of pathways were direct. Pathways starting with telephone triage were more likely to be indirect compared with other initial contacts (adjusted OR (aOR) 1.97, 95% CI 1.61 to 2.40). Compared to direct pathways, indirect pathways starting with telephone triage were associated with higher mortality (aOR 1.97, 95% CI 1.61 to 2.40) as were indirect pathways starting with another service (aOR 1.55, 95% CI 1.19 to 2.01), but not direct pathways starting with telephone triage (aOR 0.87, 95% CI 0.74 to 1.02).ConclusionUnscheduled care pathways leading to admission with MI in Scotland are usually direct, but those starting with telephone triage were more commonly indirect. Those indirect pathways were associated with higher mortality.

Following from the successful ‘RCEM weekly top five’ series starting in April 2020, this is the eighth of a monthly format for Emergency Medicine Journal (EMJ) readers. We have undertaken a focused search of the PubMed literature using a standardised COVID-19 search string. Our search between 1 and 31 May 2021 returned 2654 papers limited to human subjects and English language. We also searched high-impact journals for papers of interest. Our team have narrowed down the most interesting, relevant and important of the papers and provided a critical snapshot of five of those we felt most deserved EMJ readers’ attention. Importantly, we have highlighted not only the main findings from the papers but also key limitations and considerations for EM clinicians when interpreting the work. In doing so, we have created an accessible window into pertinent research findings for our busy colleagues during this fast-paced and ever-changing COVID-19 landscape. The papers are ranked in one of three categories, allowing you to focus on the papers that are most vital to your practice: This month’s searches were undertaken by the Emergency Medicine Research Group Edinburgh based at Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. We look forward to next month’s instalment from the team back in Manchester with a change in direction for the Journal Update as we expand to include studies beyond COVID-19. Topic: prevention Rating: game changer Vaccine platform efficacy remains at the core of public health policy with figures ranging between 62.1% and 95% in large-scale phase III trials, depending on the vaccine and population.1–7 The SIREN study, a UK healthcare worker cohort study, assessed the early effectiveness of vaccination against infection over the initial 8-week period following vaccination. Participants underwent …

Aims: The Scottish Transfusion and Laboratory Support in Trauma Group (TLSTG) previously reviewed all National Code Red activations between June 1st 2013 and October 31st 2015, generating a number of recommendations to be adopted to optimise the transfusion support given to patients following major trauma in Scotland. A repeat National survey was undertaken for all patients for whom Code Red was activated between 1st November 2015 and 31st December 2017. Methods: A clinical and transfusion lead for each centre entered anonymised data onto a secure electronic database (REDCap). Results: During the study period there were 66 activations (24 South-East of Scotland, 32 West, 10 East). Mean age was 45 years and 88% were male. Mean Injury Severity Score (ISS) was 28 with 75% blunt trauma. 93% (62/66) of Code Red patients received blood components with a 300% increase in pre-hospital transfusion (48 vs 16 patients; p

Background Concussion is a common condition that can lead to a constellation of symptoms that affect quality of life, social integration, and return to work. There are several evidence-based behavioral and psychological interventions that have been found to improve postconcussion symptom burden. However, these are not routinely delivered, and individuals receive limited support during their concussion recovery. Objective This study aimed to develop and test the feasibility of a digital health intervention using a systematic evidence-, theory-, and person-based approach. Methods This was a mixed methodology study involving a scoping review (n=21), behavioral analysis, and logic model to inform the intervention design and content. During development, the intervention was optimized with feedback from individuals who had experienced concussions (n=12) and health care professionals (n=11). The intervention was then offered to patients presenting to the emergency department with a concussion (n=50). Participants used the intervention freely and input symptom data as part of the program. A number of outcome measures were obtained, including participant engagement with the intervention, postconcussion symptom burden, and attitudes toward the intervention. A selection of participants (n=15) took part in in-depth qualitative interviews to understand their attitudes toward the intervention and how to improve it. Results Engagement with the intervention functionality was 90% (45/50) for the symptom diary, 62% (31/50) for sleep time setting, 56% (28/50) for the alcohol tracker, 48% (24/50) for exercise day setting, 34% (17/50) for the thought diary, and 32% (16/50) for the goal setter. Metrics indicated high levels of early engagement that trailed off throughout the course of the intervention, with an average daily completion rate of the symptom diary of 28.23% (494/1750). A quarter of the study participants (13/50, 26%) were classified as high engagers who interacted with all the functionalities within the intervention. Quantitative and qualitative feedback indicated a high level of usability and positive perception of the intervention. Daily symptom diaries (n=494) demonstrated a wide variation in individual participant symptom burden but a decline in average burden over time. For participants with Rivermead scores on completion of HeadOn, there was a strong positive correlation (r=0.86; P Conclusions Using this systematic approach, we developed a digital health intervention for individuals who have experienced a concussion that is designed to facilitate positive behavior change. Symptom data input as part of the intervention provided insights into postconcussion symptom burden and recovery trajectories. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05069948; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT05069948

IntroductionDiagnosing underlying arrhythmia in emergency department (ED) syncope patients is difficult. There is a evidence that diagnostic yield for detecting underlying arrhythmia is highest when cardiac monitoring devices are applied early, ideally at the index visit. This strategy has the potential to change current syncope management from low diagnostic yield Holter to higher yield ambulatory monitoring, reduce episodes of syncope, reduce risk of recurrence and its potential serious consequences, reduce hospital admissions, reduce overall health costs and increase quality of life by allowing earlier diagnosis, treatment and exclusion of clinically important arrhythmias.Methods and analysesThis is a UK open prospective parallel group multicentre randomised controlled trial of an immediate 14-day ambulatory patch heart monitor vs standard care in 2234 patients presenting acutely with unexplained syncope. Our patient focused primary endpoint will be number of episodes of syncope at 1 year. Health economic evaluation will estimate the incremental cost per syncope episode avoided and quality-adjusted life year gained.Ethics and disseminationInformed consent for participation will be sought. The ASPIRED trial received a favourable ethical opinion from South East Scotland Research Ethics Committee 01 (21/SS/0073). Results will be disseminated via scientific publication, lay summary and visual abstract.Trial registration numberISRCTN 10278811.

Eventos adversos; Arritmia; Resultados Adverse events; Arrhythmia; Outcomes Esdeveniments adversos; Arítmia; Resultats Background and Objectives: Knowledge of the incidence and time frames of the adverse events of patients presenting syncope at the ED is essential for developing effective management strategies. The aim of the present study was to perform a meta-analysis of the incidence and time frames of adverse events of syncope patients. Materials and Methods: We combined individual patients’ data from prospective observational studies including adult patients who presented syncope at the ED. We assessed the pooled rate of adverse events at 24 h, 72 h, 7–10 days, 1 month and 1 year after ED evaluation. Results: We included nine studies that enrolled 12,269 patients. The mean age varied between 53 and 73 years, with 42% to 57% females. The pooled rate of adverse events was 5.1% (95% CI 3.4% to 7.7%) at 24 h, 7.0% (95% CI 4.9% to 9.9%) at 72 h, 8.4% (95% CI 6.2% to 11.3%) at 7–10 days, 10.3% (95% CI 7.8% to 13.3%) at 1 month and 21.3% (95% CI 15.8% to 28.0%) at 1 year. The pooled death rate was 0.2% (95% CI 0.1% to 0.5%) at 24 h, 0.3% (95% CI 0.1% to 0.7%) at 72 h, 0.5% (95% CI 0.3% to 0.9%) at 7–10 days, 1% (95% CI 0.6% to 1.7%) at 1 month and 5.9% (95% CI 4.5% to 7.7%) at 1 year. The most common adverse event was arrhythmia, for which its rate was 3.1% (95% CI 2.0% to 4.9%) at 24 h, 4.8% (95% CI 3.5% to 6.7%) at 72 h, 5.8% (95% CI 4.2% to 7.9%) at 7–10 days, 6.9% (95% CI 5.3% to 9.1%) at 1 month and 9.9% (95% CI 5.5% to 17) at 1 year. Ventricular arrhythmia was rare. Conclusions: The risk of death or life-threatening adverse event is rare in patients presenting syncope at the ED. The most common adverse events are brady and supraventricular arrhythmias, which occur during the first 3 days. Prolonged ECG monitoring in the ED in a short stay unit with ECG monitoring facilities may, therefore, be beneficial. This research received no external funding.

Pulmonary embolism (PE) can present with a range of severity. Prognostic risk stratification is important for efficacious and safe management. This second of two review articles discusses the management of high-, intermediate- and low-risk PE. We discuss strategies to identify patients suitable for urgent outpatient care in addition to identification of patients who would benefit from thrombolysis. We discuss specific subgroups of patients where optimal treatment differs from the usual approach and identify emerging management paradigms exploring new therapies and subgroups.

Background and importance Palpitation is one of the commonest presenting complaints to the emergency department (ED). Diagnosis depends on capturing an ECG during the episode. Unlike syncope, patients retain consciousness and therefore their ability to activate an ECG event recorder. The Investigation of Palpitation in the ED study demonstrated Food and Drug Administration approved AliveCor/Kardia device that links to a smartphone app was safe and effective. A Smartphone Palpitation and Pre-syncope Ambulatory Care Clinic was therefore established. Objectives To review the first year of patients attending the service to determine the number and cost-effectiveness of cardiac dysrhythmias diagnoses. Design Single-center cohort study. Settings and participants Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, UK. All patients (over 16 years) presenting consecutively to ED with palpitation or pre-syncope, whose ECG was normal, had a compatible device and where an underlying cardiac dysrhythmia was possible were enrolled. Intervention Ambulatory Care Clinic utilizing the AliveCor/Kardia device. Outcome measures and analysis Number diagnosed with cardiac dysrhythmia and mean cost per diagnosis. Main results Between 24 July 2019 and 23 July 2020, 290 consecutive patients were referred of age 16-80 years (mean 43.3, SD 15.0). One hundred twenty (41.4%) were male. Two hundred thirty-seven (81.7%) were fitted with the device and 220 (75.9%) underwent full investigation. Seventeen of 237 (7.2%) patients had a cardiac diagnosis (12 atrial fibrillation/flutter, 5 supraventricular tachycardia and 1 atrial tachycardia). Conclusions There were 17 cardiac diagnoses (7.2%). The cost per symptomatic rhythm diagnosis was 358 GBP (~415 Euro) and the cost per cardiac dysrhythmia diagnosis was 4570 GBP (~5298 Euro). A smartphone-based event recorder clinic should be considered for ED palpitation patients.

Background Hospital-based studies have reported variable associations between outcome after spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage and peri-hematomal edema volume. Aims In a community-based study, we aimed to investigate the existence, strength, direction, and independence of associations between intracerebral hemorrhage and peri-hematomal edema volumes on diagnostic brain CT and one-year functional outcome and long-term survival. Methods We identified all adults, resident in Lothian, diagnosed with first-ever, symptomatic spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage between June 2010 and May 2013 in a community-based, prospective inception cohort study. We defined regions of interest manually and used a semi-automated approach to measure intracerebral hemorrhage volume, peri-hematomal edema volume, and the sum of these measurements (total lesion volume) on first diagnostic brain CT performed at ≤3 days after symptom onset. The primary outcome was death or dependence (scores 3–6 on the modified Rankin Scale) at one-year after intracerebral hemorrhage. Results Two hundred ninety-two (85%) of 342 patients (median age 77.5 y, IQR 68–83, 186 (54%) female, median time from onset to CT 6.5 h (IQR 2.9–21.7)) were dead or dependent one year after intracerebral hemorrhage. Peri-hematomal edema and intracerebral hemorrhage volumes were colinear ( R2 = 0.77). In models using both intracerebral hemorrhage and peri-hematomal edema, 10 mL increments in intracerebral hemorrhage (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 1.72 (95% CI 1.08–2.87); p = 0.029) but not peri-hematomal edema volume (aOR 0.92 (0.63–1.45); p = 0.69) were independently associated with one-year death or dependence. 10 mL increments in total lesion volume were independently associated with one-year death or dependence (aOR 1.24 (1.11–1.42); p = 0.0004). Conclusion Total volume of intracerebral hemorrhage and peri-hematomal edema, and intracerebral hemorrhage volume alone on diagnostic brain CT, undertaken at three days or sooner, are independently associated with death or dependence one-year after intracerebral hemorrhage, but peri-hematomal edema volume is not. Data access statement Anonymized summary data may be requested from the corresponding author.

Worldwide there is a shortage of available organs for patients requiring transplants. However, some countries such as France, Italy and Spain have had greater success by allowing donations from patients with unexpected and unrecoverable circulatory arrest who arrive in the ED. Significant advances in the surgical approach to organ recovery from donation after circulatory death (DCD) led to the establishment of a pilot programme for uncontrolled DCD in the ED of the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. This paper describes the programme and discusses the lessons learnt.

The Scottish Transfusion and Laboratory Support in Trauma (TLST) group previously audited all National Code Red activations between June 1st 2013 and October 31st 2015, generating a number of recommendations to be adopted to optimise the transfusion support given to patients following major trauma in Scotland. A repeat audit was undertaken for all patients for whom a Code Red was activated between 1st November 2015 and 31st December 2017.A clinical and transfusion lead for each centre entered anonymised data onto a secure electronic database (REDCAP; http://www.project-redcap.org) the server of which is held within the University of Edinburgh. This database was maintained by the Edinburgh study team. Each of Scotland’s pre-hospital trauma teams who take patients to hospitals where Code Red Policy is in place, and the receiving hospitals, agreed to enter data into the National Code Red audit for all patients for whom a Code Red was activated during the study period. The project was deemed a service evaluation by the South East Scotland Research Ethics committee (Ref: NR/1408AB11) and therefore did not require full ethics submission. The project was also registered with each hospital’s clinical effectiveness/governance teams where available, and a favourable Caldicott opinion was obtained.Abstract 042 Figure 1Flow chart showing transfusion events and outcomes of code red patientsAbstract 042 Figure 2Ratio of the mean number of concentrated red cells (CRC) and fresh frozen plasma (FFP) transfused to code red patients at 30 minute intervalsAbstract 042 Table 166 activations (24 South-East of Scotland, 32 West, 10 East). Mean age 45 years, 88% male patients. 93% of Code Red patients received blood components with a 300% increase in pre-hospital transfusion (48 patients; 73%); median time from 999 call to Code Red activation reduced to 37 minutes from 70 minutes; 78% patients received pre-hospital TXA (improved from 70%). CRC:FFP ratios improved in comparison to 2013–15. Survival to discharge increased (63% to 66%) despite increased ISS.Code Red practice has improved since our last audit. There are still improvements to be made in TXA administration and time to blood products.

IntroductionFractures of the odontoid process frequently result from low impact falls in frail or older adults. These are increasing in incidence and importance as the population ages. In the UK, odontoid fractures in older adults are usually managed in hard collars to immobilise the fracture and promote bony healing. However, bony healing does not always occur in older adults, and bony healing is not associated with quality of life, functional, or pain outcomes. Further, hard collars can cause complications such as skin pressure ulcers, swallowing difficulties and difficulties with personal care. We hypothesise that management with no immobilisation may be superior to management in a hard collar for older or frail adults with odontoid fractures.Methods and analysesThis is the protocol for the Duration of External Neck Stabilisation (DENS) trial—a non-blinded randomised controlled trial comparing management in a hard collar with management without a collar for older (≥65 years) or frail (Rockwood Clinical Frailty Scale ≥5) adults with a new odontoid fracture. 887 neurologically intact participants with any odontoid process fracture type will be randomised to continuing with a hard collar (standard care) or removal of the collar (intervention). The primary outcome is quality of life measured using the EQ-5D-5L at 12 weeks. Secondary outcomes include pain scores, neck disability index, health and social care use and costs, and mortality.Ethics and disseminationInformed consent for participation will be sought from those able to provide it. We will also include those who lack capacity to ensure representativeness of frail and acutely unwell older adults. Results will be disseminated via scientific publication, lay summary, and visual abstract. The DENS trial received a favourable ethical opinion from the Scotland A Research Ethics Committee (21/SS/0036) and the Leeds West Research Ethics Committee (21/YH/0141).Trial registration numberNCT04895644.

Despite considerable improvement in Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) knowledge andtreatment in the last three decades, the overall number of People Living with HIV (PLHIV) is still risingwith up to one quarter being unaware of their HIV status. Early HIV diagnosis and treatment prolongslife, reduces transmission, improves quality of life and is a cost-effective public health intervention.The Emergency Department (ED) sees a large number of patients from marginalized and traditionallyunderserved populations in whom HIV is known to be more prevalent and who may not attendtraditional services because of either cultural reasons or because of a chaotic lifestyle. This articlediscusses the two main approaches to screening; ‘Opt-out’ screening offers testing routinely in allclinical settings, and ‘Targeted’ screening offers testing to individuals presenting with indicatorconditions. There are many studies of ‘Opt-out’ ED HIV screening in urban areas of high HIVprevalence. However, little is known about the effectiveness of ‘targeted’ HIV screening especially inareas of low-prevalence. This review discusses the background to HIV screening in the ED and reviewsthe evidence around ‘targeted’ HIV screening in adult EDs in different HIV prevalence settingsconcluding that targeted HIV screening at the ED can be impactful, cost effective and well acceptedin the ED population, but its long-term implementation requires extra funding and increased staffingresource limiting its application in low resources setting. Despite most evidence being from areas ofhigh-HIV prevalence, targeted screening might also be appropriate in low-HIV prevalence areas.

Background and Objectives: The Investigation of Palpitations in the ED (IPED) study showed that a smartphone-based event recorder increased the number of patients in whom an electrocardiogram (ECG) was captured during symptoms over five-fold to more than 55% at 90 days compared to standard care and concluded that this safe, non-invasive and easy-to-use device should be considered part of on-going care to all patients presenting acutely with unexplained palpitations or pre-syncope. This study reports the process of establishing a smartphone palpitation and pre-syncope ambulatory care Clinic (SPACC) service. Materials and Methods: A clinical standard operating procedure (SOP) was devised, and funding was secured through a business case for the purchase of 40 AliveCor devices in the first instance. The clinic was launched on 22 July 2019. Results: Between 22 July 2019 and 31 October 2019, 68 patients seen in the emergency departments (EDs) with palpitations or pre-syncope were referred to SPACC. Of those, 30 were male and 38 were female, and the mean age was 45.8 years old (SD 15.1) with a range from 18 years old to 80 years old. A total of 50 (74%) patients underwent full investigation. On the first assessment, seven (10%) patients were deemed to have non-cardiac palpitations and were not fitted with the device. All patients who underwent full investigation achieved symptomatic rhythm correlation most with sinus rhythm, ventricular ectopics, or bigeminy. A symptomatic cardiac dysrhythmia was detected in six (8.8%) patients. Three patients had supraventricular tachycardia (4%), two had atrial fibrillation (3%), and one had atrial flutter (2%). Qualitative feedback from the SPACC team suggested several areas where improvement to the clinic could be made. Conclusion: We believe a smartphone palpitation service based on ambulatory care is simple to implement and is effective at detecting cardiac dysrhythmia in ED palpitation patients.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0228725.].

Over a billion Peripheral Intra-Venous Cannulas (PIVC) are used globally every year with at least 25 million sold annually in the UK.1,2 The NHS spends an estimated £29m of its annual acute sector budget on PIVC procurement3 and around 70% of all hospitalised patients require at least one PIVC during their stay.4 Despite their extensive and routine use, PIVC failure rates are reported as high as 50-69%.5-7 In addition, many PIVCs remain unused following insertion, particularly in the Emergency Department (ED).8,9 The risk factors for PIVC failure are not well understood and the literature has found extensive regional variation in practice when it comes to PIVC insertion and management.1,7,10 While various technologies have been developed to address these issues, there remains a need for standardised, evidence-based guidelines.

BackgroundTelephone triage is increasingly used to manage unscheduled care demand. Younger adults are frequent users, and commonly call with chest pain. We compared pathways of care in younger adults calling with chest pain, and associations of patient characteristics and telephone triage recommendation with hospital admission.MethodsA retrospective study of all triage calls with chest pain to NHS24 advice line by people aged 15–34 years between 1 January 2015 and 31 December 2017 where chest pain was recorded as the call reason. Recommended outcome and subsequent use of services were determined using the continuous urgent care pathways (CUPs) database which records single episodes of care spanning multiple services. We determined the number of services involved, the proportion of patients with inpatient admission, those with an admission for an ‘acute-and-serious’ diagnosis, and the association between the triage call recommendation and these outcomes.ResultsThere were 102 822 CUPs identified, with 1251 different combinations of services. The most common pathway was an NHS24 call then attendance at a primary care out-of-hours (PCOOH) centre, accounting for 38 643 (37.6%) CUPs. 9060 (8.8%) CUPs ended with hospital admission, 3030 (3.0%) the result of an ‘acute-and-serious’ diagnosis. 8453 (8.2%) were given ‘self-care’ advice and not referred further, while 46.9% ended at PCOOH and 15.2% at ED. ‘Asthma, unspecified’ was the most frequent ‘acute-and-serious’ diagnosis. Compared with people given self-care advice, referral to other services had increased odds of inpatient admission (adjusted OR (aOR) for ambulance called 28.7, 95% CI 22.6 to 36.3; for 1-hour in-home general practitioner (GP) visit arranged aOR 36.8, 95% CI 23.2 to 58.5) and for admission with an ‘acute-and-serious’ diagnosis (aOR ambulance called 23.9, 95% CI 16.2 to 35.4; aOR 1-hour GP visit 48.3, 95% CI 25.5 to 91.6).ConclusionChest pain triage by NHS24 appears safe, but care pathways can involve multiple service contacts. While acuity assigned to the call is strongly related to the odds of hospital admission and odds of an ‘acute-and-serious’ diagnosis, ‘overtriage’ means few patients are directed to self-care advice.

Background: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection continues to expand worldwide, and a significant proportion of infection is still undiagnosed. Recent studies have addressed the impact and feasibility of ‘opt-out’ HIV screening in Emergency Departments (EDs) in urban settings at high HIV prevalence, whereas little is known about the yield of implementing ‘targeted’ HIV testing, especially in low-prevalence areas. Objective: The present study undertakes a scoping review of research carried out on the implementation of targeted HIV screening of adult in EDs to determine the impact, feasibility and acceptability of HIV testing in different HIV prevalence settings. Design: Online databases (EMBASE, MEDLINE) were used to identify papers published between 2000 to 2020. A three-concept search was employed with HIV (HIV, Human immunodeficiency virus infection, HIV infections), targeted testing (Target, screening or testing) and emergency medicine (Emergency Service, emergency ward, A&E, accident and emergency or Emergency Department) (28th February 2020). Only full-text articles written in English, French, Spanish or Italian and using impact and/or feasibility and/or acceptability of the program as primary or secondary outcomes were analysed. Results: The search provided 416 articles. Of these, 12 met inclusion criteria and were included in the final review. Most of the included studies were carried out in the United States (n=8; 67%) and in areas of high HIV prevalence (n=11; 92%). Three (20%) were randomized control studies. While the rate of newly diagnosed HIV cases varied widely (0.03-2.2%), likely due to methodological heterogeneity between studies, the linkage of new HIV diagnosis was often high (80-100%) and median CD4+ cell count was always greater than 200 cells per microliter. Targeted HIV screening was found to be cost-effective (out of 2 studies) and well accepted by participants (out 2 studies). Conclusions: Targeted HIV screening at the ED can be impactful, feasible and well accepted, but often requires extra funding and staff. Most previous work has focused on areas of high disease prevalence.

Aims Point-of-care viscoelastic tests such as rotational thrombelastometry (ROTEM) and thromboelastography (TEG) give rapid information on the kinetics of clot formation, clot strength and fibrinolysis. We developed a ROTEM algorithm for the management of trauma patients at risk of massive haemorrhage using either 5 or 10 minute EXTEM and FIBTEM ROTEM thresholds. Study aims were (a) to compare time to results for ROTEM testing versus laboratory conventional coagulation testing (CCT) and (b) to compare incidence of Trauma-induced coagulopathy (TIC) for our 5 and 10 minute ROTEM algorithms versus both the CCT-based European guideline algorithm and the ROTEM-based iTACTIC study algorithm, in both MT and non-MT patients. Methods Single centre, prospective, observational Emergency Department based study. All trauma patients who underwent ROTEM testing were included. Data was collected from the ROTEM Sigma machine and hospital Electronic Patient Records and analysed. Results Between April 2016 and May 2019, 57 trauma patients were enrolled. Mean age was 47.4 years (SD 19.4) and 44 patients (77.2%) were male. Eleven patients (19.3%) required massive transfusion (MT), 5 patients died in ED (8.8%) and overall in-hospital mortality was 22.8% (n = 13). Median time from admission to CCT result was 83 minutes (IQR 60–93) compared to 51 minutes (IQR 32-93; p = 0.0006) for ROTEM A5 results. This time difference was present for both MT and non-MT patients. Trauma-induced coagulopathy (TIC) was identified in 14 (24.5%) patients using CCT compared to 22 (38.5%) using ROTEM (p = 0.11 ns). Conclusion Our ROTEM Sigma based algorithm enables a coagulation result to be obtained faster than laboratory CCT and could lead to earlier clinical intervention.

BackgroundRisk stratification is challenging in conditions, such as chest pain, shortness of breath and syncope, which can be the manifestation of many possible underlying diseases. In these cases, decision tools are unlikely to accurately identify all the different adverse events related to the possible etiologies. Attribute matching is a prediction method that matches an individual patient to a group of previously observed patients with identical characteristics and known outcome. We used syncope as a paradigm of clinical conditions presenting with aspecific symptoms to test the attribute matching method for the prediction of the personalized risk of adverse events.MethodsWe selected the 8 predictor variables common to the individual-patient dataset of 5 prospective emergency department studies enrolling 3388 syncope patients. We calculated all possible combinations and the number of patients in each combination. We compared the predictive accuracy of attribute matching and logistic regression. We then classified ten random patients according to clinical judgment and attribute matching.ResultsAttribute matching provided 253 of the 384 possible combinations in the dataset. Twelve (4.7%), 35 (13.8%), 50 (19.8%) and 160 (63.2%) combinations had a match size ≥50, ≥30, ≥20 and ConclusionsAttribute matching is a promising tool for personalized and flexible risk prediction. Large databases will need to be used in future studies to test and apply the method in different conditions.

This chapter focuses on the management of syncope and collapse in the Emergency Department (ED). Syncope/collapse is a common reason for ED attendance and it presents a major management challenge with regard to the appropriate workup and disposition. Initially a diagnosis of syncope/collapse should be made considering other syncope mimics that can present with transient loss of consciousness (TLoC), especially seizure, and other causes of collapse such as presyncope, lightheadedness, vertigo, disequilibrium, and mechanical fall. Once the presenting syndrome of syncope is established, the current suggested approach to the syncope/collapse patient as advocated by the 2018 European Society of Cardiology (ESC) syncope guidelines should be followed. If no obvious underlying cause for the event is found, risk stratification should be undertaken to determine which patients likely have benign causes of syncope and which are at high risk of short-term and long-term adverse outcome. Red flag symptoms should be checked and driving, working, and avocational implications should be fully considered according to local protocols. The benefits of a hospital syncope clinical decision unit and a rapid access syncope clinic include reduced admissions, reduced length of hospital stay, and reduced hospital costs.

Aims/Objectives/BackgroundSyncope is a common presentation to ED. Patients with an underlying cardiac cause have increased risk of adverse outcome. Initially, aetiology can be unclear leading to high admission rates and associated costs. In August 2018, a syncope pathway was introduced at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh (RIE) ED to aid diagnosis and direct patients to appropriate services. Our aim was to assess the impact of this pathway on syncope diagnosis, admission rates, patient outcomes and specialty input.Methods/DesignA search of electronic patient records (EPR) eight months before and after the pathway’s introduction was conducted to identify patients presenting with ‘fainting episode +/- loss of consciousness’. EPR’s were reviewed and non-syncopal presentations excluded. Two reviewers consecutively sampled from both groups. Remaining patients had their EPR’s scrutinised to determine history, examination findings, immediate and 1-year outcomes and referrals to specialties.Results/ConclusionsOur search identified 1055 pre-pathway and 1073 post-pathway patients. Following exclusion of non-syncopal diagnoses, 673 patients remained in the pre-pathway group and 480 in the post-pathway group. Consecutive sampling from these groups generated 199 patients pre-pathway and 102 patients post-pathway with a median age of 65 (range 13–100).A greater proportion of patients were admitted or referred to outpatient services following the pathway’s introduction (46.1% versus 30.2%). Of these, 25.5% were referred to outpatient clinics compared to 20% pre-pathway. Of those admitted, 77.1% received specialty input related to their syncope compared to 25% in the pre-pathway group. After 1-year follow-up, 8.8% of patients had alternative diagnoses for their syncope compared to 2.5% pre-pathway. Post pathway, there were two syncope related deaths – both situational syncope causing falls.Following the introduction of our syncope pathway there was no significant reduction in unscheduled care admissions. However, we have seen more specialty input and improved diagnosis with importantly, no significant increase in syncope related deaths.

Objectives: To determine whether it was feasible to use a haemorrhage assessment tool (HAT) within a trauma trial and whether the data obtained could differentiate patients who had achieved haemostasis. Background: Major haemorrhage is one of the leading causes of death worldwide, affecting 40% of trauma patients. Clinical trials evaluating haemostatic interventions often use transfusion outcomes as a primary endpoint. Transfusion is highly dependent on local practice, limiting its reliability as a robust, transferable endpoint. Methods: A five‐point HAT questionnaire was applied to participants enrolled into the EFIT‐1 trial. This RCT evaluated the feasibility of administering a 6 g fibrinogen concentrate to patients with severe trauma haemorrhage. Results: Of participants, 98% completed a HAT; 75% participants had ‘achieved haemostasis’ at the time of tool completion, as determined by clinical acumen alone. HAT scores were able to differentiate which participants required transfusion after 3 h. Of participants, 56% were transfused red blood cells when they scored 0–2, compared to 17% with HAT scores between 3 and 5. Conclusion: This study has confirmed the feasibility of using a HAT during the emergency care of patients suffering trauma haemorrhage, and future studies should be conducted to determine its value as an endpoint in haemostasis studies.

ObjectivesDiagnosing underlying arrhythmia in ED syncope patients remains problematic. This study investigates diagnostic yield, event prevalence, patient satisfaction and compliance, and influence on resource utilisation of an ambulatory patch monitor in unexplained ED syncope patients.MethodsProspective pilot study conducted in a single tertiary ED in Scotland between 17 November 2015 and 16 June 2017 with a historical unmatched comparator group. Patients 16 years or over presenting within 6 hours of unexplained syncope were fitted in the ED with an ambulatory patch ECG recorder (Zio XT monitor), which continuously records a single-lead ECG for up to 14 days. Patients with an obvious underlying cause were excluded. An unmatched historical group of 603 syncope patients with no obvious diagnosis in ED, recruited to a prior cohort study (2007–2008), were used as a comparator. Primary endpoint was symptomatic significant arrhythmia at 90-day follow-up.ResultsDuring the prospective study period, 86 patients were recruited. 90-day diagnostic yield for symptomatic significant arrhythmia was 10.5% (95% CI 4.0 to 16.9; 9 of 86) versus 2.0% (95% CI 0.9 to 3.1; 12 of 603) in the comparator group. 24 patients (27.9%) had a significant arrhythmia (five serious); 26 patients (30.2%) had serious outcomes (major adverse cardiac event and/or death). Blinded patch report review suggested the patch would significantly reduce requirement for standard outpatient ambulatory ECG monitoring. 56 of 76 returned patches had a diagnostic finding within±45 s of a triggered/diary event (73.7% diagnostic utility; 95% CI 63.7 to 83.6); 34 of 56 (61%) for sinus rhythm or ectopic beats only.ConclusionsRoutine, early ambulatory ECG monitoring in ED patients with unexplained syncope is probably warranted. A large-scale trial comparing this approach to standard care with cost-effectiveness and safety analysis is now required.Trial registrationNCT02683174.

Syncope is the common clinical manifestation of different diseases, and this makes it difficult to define what outcomes should be considered in prognostic studies. The aim of this study is to critically analyze the outcomes considered in syncope studies through systematic review and expert consensus. We performed a systematic review of the literature to identify prospective studies enrolling consecutive patients presenting to the Emergency Department with syncope, with data on the characteristics and incidence of short-term outcomes. Then, the strengths and weaknesses of each outcome were discussed by international syncope experts to provide practical advice to improve future selection and assessment. 31 studies met our inclusion criteria. There is a high heterogeneity in both outcome choice and incidence between the included studies. The most commonly considered 7-day outcomes are mortality, dysrhythmias, myocardial infarction, stroke, and rehospitalisation. The most commonly considered 30-day outcomes are mortality, haemorrhage requiring blood transfusion, dysrhythmias, myocardial infarction, pacemaker or implantable defibrillator implantation, stroke, pulmonary embolism, and syncope relapse. We present a critical analysis of the pros and cons of the commonly considered outcomes, and provide possible solutions to improve their choice in ED syncope studies. We also support global initiatives to promote the standardization of patient management and data collection.

Objectives Can pre-hospital paramedic responders perform satisfactory pre-hospital Echo in Life Support (ELS) during the 10-s pulse check window, and does pre-hospital ELS adversely affect the delivery of cardiac arrest care. Methods Prospective observational study of a cohort of ELS trained paramedics using saved ultrasound clips and wearable camera videos. Results Between 23rd June 2014 and 31st January 2016, seven Resuscitation Rapid Response Unit (3RU) paramedics attended 45 patients in Lothian suffering out-of-hospital CA where resuscitation was attempted and ELS was available and performed. 80% of first ELS attempts by paramedics produced an adequate view which was excellent/good or satisfactory in 68%. 44% of views were obtained within the 10-s pulse check window with a median time off the chest of 17 (IQR 13–20) seconds. A decision to perform ELS was communicated 67% of the time, and the 10-s pulse check was counted aloud in 60%. A manual pulse check was observed in around a quarter of patients and the rhythm on the monitor was checked 38% of the time. All decision changing scans involved a decision to stop resuscitation. Conclusions Paramedics are able to obtain good ELS views in the pre-hospital environment but this may lead to longer hands off the chest time and possibly less pulse and monitor checking than is recommended. Future studies will need to demonstrate either improved outcomes or a benefit from identifying patients in whom further resuscitation and transportation is futile, before ELS is widely adopted in most pre-hospital systems.

Background: Accuracy of high sensitive troponin (hs-cTn) to detect coronary artery disease (CAD) in patients with renal insufficiency is not established. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prognostic role of hs-cTn T and I in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Methods: All consecutive patients with chest pain, renal insufficiency (eGFR < 60 mL/min/1.73 m2) and high sensitive troponin level were included. The predictive value of baseline and interval troponin (hs-cTnT and hs-cTnI) for the presence of CAD was assessed. Results: One hundred and thirteen patients with troponin I and 534 with troponin T were included, with 95 (84%) and 463 (87%) diagnosis of CAD respectively. There were no differences in clinical, procedural and outcomes between the two assays. For both, baseline hs-cTn values did not differ be­tween patients with/without CAD showing low area under the curve (AUC). For interval levels, hs-cTnI was significantly higher for patients with CAD (0.2 ± 0.8 vs. 8.9 ± 4.6 ng/mL; p = 0.04) and AUC was more accurate for troponin I than hs-cTnT (AUC 0.85 vs. 0.69). Peak level was greater for hs-cTnI in patients with CAD or thrombus (0.4 ± 0.6 vs. 15 ± 20 ng/mL; p = 0.02; AUC 0.87: 0.79–0.93); no differences were found for troponin T assays (0.8 ± 1.5 vs. 2.2 ± 3.6 ng/mL; p = 1.7), with lower AUC (0.73: 0.69–0.77). Peak troponin levels (both T and I) independently predicted all cause death at 30 days. Conclusions: Patients with CKD presenting with altered troponin are at high risk of coronary disease. Peak level of both troponin assays predicts events at 30 days, with troponin I being more accurate than troponin T. (Cardiol J 2017; 24, 2: 139–150)

The Scottish Transfusion and Laboratory Support in Trauma Group (TLSTG) have introduced a unified National pre-hospital Code Red protocol. This paper reports the results of a study aiming to establish whether current pre-hospital Code Red activation criteria for trauma patients successfully predict need for in hospital transfusion or haemorrhagic death, the current admission coagulation profile and Concentrated Red Cell (CRC): Fresh Frozen Plasma (FFP) ratio being used, and whether use of the protocol leads to increased blood component discards?Prospective cohort study. Clinical and transfusion leads for each of Scotland's pre-hospital services and their receiving hospitals agreed to enter data into the study for all trauma patients for whom a pre-hospital Code Red was activated. Outcome data collected included survival 24h after Code Red activation, survival to hospital discharge, death in the Emergency Department and death in hospital.Between June 1st 2013 and October 31st 2015 there were 53 pre-hospital Code Red activations. Median Injury Severity Score (ISS) was 24 (IQR 14-37) and mortality 38%. 16 patients received pre-hospital blood. The pre-hospital Code Red protocol was sensitive for predicting transfusion or haemorrhagic death (89%). Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values of the pre-hospital SBP90mmHg component were 63%, 33%, 86% and 12%. 19% had an admission prothrombin time14s and 27% had a fibrinogen1.5g/L. CRC: FFP ratios did not drop to below 2:1 until 150min after arrival in the ED. 16 red cell units, 33 FFP and 6 platelets were discarded. This was not significantly increased compared to historical data.A National pre-hospital Code Red protocol is sensitive for predicting transfusion requirement in bleeding trauma patients and does not lead to increased blood component discards. A significant number of patients are coagulopathic and there is a need to improve CRC: FFP ratios and time to transfusion support especially FFP provision. Training clinicians to activate pre-hospital Code Red earlier during the pre-hospital phase may give blood bank more time to thaw and prepare FFP and may improve FFP administration times and ratios so long as components are used upon their availability.

The aims of this study were (1) to identify research publications studying noninvasive electrocardiogram (ECG) monitoring devices, (2) to define and categorize current technology in noninvasive ECG recording, and (3) to discuss desirable noninvasive recording features for personalized syncope evaluation to guide technological advancement and future studies. We performed a systematic review of the literature that assessed noninvasive ECG-monitoring devices, regardless of the reason for monitoring. We performed an Internet search and corresponded with syncope experts and companies to help identify further eligible products. We extracted information about included studies and device features. We found 173 relevant papers. The main reasons for ECG monitoring were atrial fibrillation (n = 45), coronary artery disease (n = 10), syncope (n = 8), palpitations (n = 8), other cardiac diseases (n = 67), and technological aspects of monitoring (n = 35). We identified 198 devices: 5 hospital telemetry devices, 12 patches, 46 event recorders, 70 Holter monitors, 23 external loop recorders, 20 mobile cardiac outpatient telemetries, and 22 multifunctional devices. The features of each device were very heterogeneous. There are a large number of ECG-monitoring devices with different features available in the market. Our findings may help clinicians select the appropriate device for their patients. Since there are only a few published articles analyzing their usefulness in syncope patients, further research might improve their use in this clinical setting.

Urbanisation is an ongoing global trend that is associated with soil sealing and land take at the cost of agricultural land and other open landscape. While soil sealing and land take result in the loss of all soil functions and the loss of high-quality agricultural soils, the awareness of the magnitude and negative implications of these processes remains relatively low. In this article, we examine how seven EU cities have addressed the issues of land take and soil sealing through approaches to increase efficient land use. The cities include Cambridge, Milan, Nantes, Regensburg, Stockholm, Vienna and Wroclaw. Drawing on statistical analysis and qualitative interviews with city-level practitioners, we look at trends in soil sealing and land take and outline relevant policies and legislation that can prevent or reduce land take and soil sealing, as well as success factors and barriers to the implementation of these policy instruments. Results show that the reduction of land take and soil sealing cannot be implemented as an isolated programme but needs to be pursued as an integrated approach, together with other sustainability objectives, such as energy efficiency, conservation of agricultural land, reduction of traffic, and increase of biodiversity. Conclusions highlight the importance of a robust framework of national law and regulation and of setting quantitative land take targets taking a long-term vision of city development and assigning a value to soil. Moreover, focus should be on inner development before outer development, including the reuse of brownfields and investing in building renovation.

Background: In recent years, there has been increasing focus on the earlier detection of deterioration in the clinical condition of hospital patients with the aim of instigating earlier treatment to reverse this deterioration and preventadverse outcomes. This is especially important in the ED, a dynamic environment with large volumes of undifferentiated patients, which carries inherent patient risk. SNAP40 is an innovative medical-grade device that can be worn on the upper arm that continuously monitors patients’ vital signs including relative changes in systolic blood pressure, respiratory rate, heart rate, movement, blood oxygen saturation and temperature. It uses automated risk analysis to potentially allow clinical staff to easily and quickly identify high-risk patients. The aim of this study is to investigate whether the SNAP40 device is able to identify deterioration in the vital sign physiology of an ED patient earlier than current standard monitoring and observation charting techniques.Methods/design: Single centre, teaching hospital ED open label, prospective, observational cohort study recruiting 250 high acuity participants aged 16 years or over presenting to the ED. Participants will be approached and enrolledin the ED and after consent will have the SNAP40 wearable monitoring device attached which will be used alongside standard care monitoring. Participants will be observed throughout their time in the ED. Any SNAP40 device alarm, standard monitoring alarms or standard practice vital sign observations indicating a deterioration in a patient’s vital sign physiology (defined as an increase in NEWS score) will be recorded. Primary outcome is time to detection of deterioration. Secondary outcomes include staff time spent performing observations and responding to standard monitoring alarms, clinical escalation of care when deterioration is detected and participants and staff rating ofexperience of both SNAP40 and current monitoring.Discussion: The SNAP40-ED study aims to recruit 250 patients. It will be the first study to compare the ability of a novel ambulatory monitoring device to detect deterioration compared to standard care in the ED. It may allow the earlier detection of deterioration in the clinical condition of ED patients and therefore earlier treatment to reverse this deterioration and prevent adverse outcomes.Trial registration: NCT03179267 ClinicalTrials.gov. Registered on June 17, 2017

Background: There is an urgent need to rapidly distinguish Covid-19 from other respiratory conditions, including influenza, at first-presentation. Point-of-care tests not requiring laboratory-support will speed diagnosis and protect health-care staff. We studied the feasibility of using breath-analysis to distinguish these conditions with near-patient gas chromatography-ion mobility spectrometry (GC-IMS). Methods: Independent studies at Edinburgh, UK, and Dortmund, Germany, recruited adult patients with possible Covid-19 at hospital presentation. Participants gave a single breath-sample for volatile organic compounds analysis by GC-IMS. Covid-19 infection was identified by RT-qPCR of oral/nasal swabs together with clinical-review. Following correction for environmental contaminants, potential Covid-19 breath-biomarkers were identified by multi-variate analysis and comparison to GC-IMS databases. A Covid-19 breath-score based on the relative abundance of a panel of volatile organic compounds was proposed and tested against the cohort data. Findings: Ninety-eight patients were recruited, of whom 21/33 (63.6%) and 10/65 (15.4%) had Covid-19 in Edinburgh and Dortmund, respectively. Other diagnoses included asthma, COPD, bacterial pneumonia, and cardiac conditions. Multivariate analysis identified aldehydes (ethanal, octanal), ketones (acetone, butanone), and methanol that discriminated Covid-19 from other conditions. An unidentified-feature with significant predictive power for severity/death was isolated in Edinburgh, while heptanal was identified in Dortmund. Differentiation of patients with definite diagnosis (25 and 65) of Covid-19 from non-Covid-19 was possible with 80% and 81.5% accuracy in Edinburgh and Dortmund respectively (sensitivity/specificity 82.4%/75%; area-under-the-receiver-operator-characteristic [AUROC] 0.87 95% CI 0.67 to 1) and Dortmund (sensitivity/ specificity 90%/80%; AUROC 0.91 95% CI 0.87 to 1). Interpretation: These two studies independently indicate that patients with Covid-19 can be rapidly distinguished from patients with other conditions at first healthcare contact. The identity of the marker compounds is consistent with Covid-19 derangement of breath-biochemistry by ketosis, gastrointestinal effects, and inflammatory processes. Development and validation of this approach may allow rapid diagnosis of Covid-19 in the coming endemic flu seasons. Funding Statement: MR was supported by an NHS Research Scotland Career Researcher Clinician award. DMR was supported by the University of Edinburgh ref COV_29 Declaration of Interests: The authors have nothing to declare. Ethics Approval Statement: Two independent studies were set up in the emergency departments of the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh (RIE, Institutional Review Board ref RIE, 20/SS/0042), UK, and Klinikum Dortmund (KD, Institutional Review Board ref IfADo 176/2020), Germany.

The optimal emergency department (ED) evaluation of syncope is uncertain. Research reports from multiple countries suggest extensive practice variation, high costs, and questionable benefit associated with current approaches.1–5 Moreover, only a few of the recommendations from international syncope guidelines deal with ED management.6–8 For example, the European Society of Cardiology guidelines, which are the most inclusive syncope guidelines, do not address the ED management. This could be due to limited evidence on how to stratify the risk and decide on disposition of these patients in the ED.1,9 We organized a multi-specialty workshop of North American and European syncope experts on 26–27 September 2013 in Gargnano, Italy, with the aim of obtaining a modified Delphi consensus on the best way to manage ED syncope patients. As already described,10 we followed a four-step conceptual model for the ED decision-making in syncope: (i) Is it syncope? (ii) Is there a serious underlying condition identified in the ED? (iii) If the cause is uncertain, what is the risk of a serious outcome? (iv) For a given risk profile, how can these patients be best managed in the ED and what evaluation and restrictions are required? ( Figure 1 ) . Figure 1 Conceptual model: ED management of syncope. Expert recruitment and consensus development have been described previously.10 Details can be found in Supplementary material online, Appendix S1 . The full list of questions and answers to the first and second survey rounds as well as the degree of agreement on each item is reported in Supplementary material online, Appendix S2 . According to the ESC guidelines, syncope is defined as a …

Background: Patients with palpitations and pre-syncope commonly present to Emergency Departments (EDs) but underlying rhythm diagnosis is often not possible during the initial presentation. This trial compares the symptomatic rhythm detection rate of a smartphone-based event recorder (AliveCor) alongside standard care versus standard care alone, for participants presenting to the ED with palpitations and pre-syncope with no obvious cause evident at initial consultation. Methods: Multi-centre open label, randomised controlled trial. Participants ≥16 years old presenting to 10 UK hospital EDs were included. Participants were randomised to either (a) intervention group; standard care plus the use of a smartphone-based event recorder or (b) control group; standard care alone. Primary endpoint was symptomatic rhythm detection rate at 90 days. Trial registration number NCT02783898 (ClinicalTrials.gov). Findings: Two hundred forty-three participants were recruited over an 18-month period. A symptomatic rhythm was detected at 90 days in 69 (n = 124; 55.6%; 95% CI 46.9–64.4%) participants in the intervention group versus 11 (n = 116; 9.5%; 95% CI 4.2–14.8) in the control group (RR 5.9, 95% CI 3.3–10.5; p

To investigate if Brain Natriuretic Peptide (BNP) and highsensitivity troponin I predict significant arrhythmia, symptomatic significant arrhythmia and 90-day death and/or Major Adverse Cardiac Event in Emergency Department (ED) unexplained syncope patients investigated with a 14-day ambulatory electrocardiogram (ECG) recorder. Single-centre, prospective, cohort study. Patients 16 years or over presenting within 6 hours of an episode of unexplained syncope were fitted with an ambulatory ECG recorder (Zio® XT monitor) and had high-sensitivity troponin I and BNP measured on ED admission and 3 hours later. Between 17/11/2015 and 13/06/2017, 86 patients were recruited. 24 had significant arrhythmia, 9 symptomatic significant arrhythmia and 26 patients had death and/or Major adverse cardiac events by 90 days. BNP at admission, three hours and change in BNP and high-sensitivity troponin I at three hours were associated with significant arrhythmia and serious outcome. BNP>20pg/mL and/or high-sensitivity troponin I above the 99% sex specific centile (M>34ng/L, F>16ng/L) at 3 hours had a sensitivity of 100% (21/21; 95% CI 81%-100%) and specificity of 43% (16/37; 28%-60%) for significant arrhythmia and a sensitivity of 100% (22/22; 95% CI 82%- 100%) and specificity of 44% (16/36; 28%-62%) for serious outcome both at 90 days. The combination of BNP and high-sensitivity troponin I at 3 hours shows promise as a potential predictive marker for serious arrhythmia and serious outcome at 90 days and deserves further exploration as a rule out test to enable safe discharge of patients from the ED who are at low risk of having cardiac syncope and subsequent adverse events.

Background: There is increasing interest in the timely administration of concentrated sources of fibrinogen to patients with major traumatic bleeding. Following evaluation of early cryoprecipitate in the CRYOSTAT 1 trial, we explored the use of fibrinogen concentrate, which may have advantages of more rapid administration in acute haemorrhage. The aims of this pragmatic study were to assess the feasibility of fibrinogen concentrate administration within 45 minutes of hospital admission and to quantify efficacy in maintaining fibrinogen levels ≥ 2 g/L during active haemorrhage. Methods: We conducted a blinded, randomised, placebo-controlled trial at five UK major trauma centres with adult trauma patients with active bleeding who required activation of the major haemorrhage protocol. Participants were randomised to standard major haemorrhage therapy plus 6 g of fibrinogen concentrate or placebo. Results: Twenty-seven of 39 participants (69%; 95% CI, 52–83%) across both arms received the study intervention within 45 minutes of admission. There was some evidence of a difference in the proportion of participants with fibrinogen levels ≥ 2 g/L between arms (p = 0.10). Fibrinogen levels in the fibrinogen concentrate (FgC) arm rose by a mean of 0.9 g/L (SD, 0.5) compared with a reduction of 0.2 g/L (SD, 0.5) in the placebo arm and were significantly higher in the FgC arm (p Conclusions: In this trial, early delivery of fibrinogen concentrate within 45 minutes of admission was not feasible. Although evidence points to a key role for fibrinogen in the treatment of major bleeding, researchers need to recognise the challenges of timely delivery in the emergency setting. Future studies must explore barriers to rapid fibrinogen therapy, focusing on methods to reduce time to randomisation, using ‘off-the-shelf’ fibrinogen therapies (such as extended shelf-life cryoprecipitate held in the emergency department or fibrinogen concentrates with very rapid reconstitution times) and limiting the need for coagulation test-based transfusion triggers. Trial Registration: ISRCTN67540073. Registered on 5 August 2015. 5 August 2015.