BackgroundThe Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale is a valid triage system. The system was translated and implemented in the Japanese emergency departments (EDs) from 2012. This system was named the Japanese Triage and Acuity Scale; however, the validation studies of the Japanese Triage and Acuity Scale have been limited. In addition, for a patient with multiple complaints, it could become challenging, due to its requirement of a single complaint. Therefore, we hypothesized that a modified version of the Japanese Triage and Acuity Scale using first-order modifiers without chief complaint detection is accurate.MethodsA retrospective cohort study evaluated a correlation between the modified triage scale level and outcomes of all adult emergency department patients at a Japanese hospital.Construct validity of the modified triage scale level was assessed based on comparisons of total admission rate (including hospitalizations, emergency department deaths) and length of stay between triage levels.ResultsThe distributions of five levels of the triage scale (level 1 is the most urgent) among the 17,121 cases are as follows: 1:451, 2:1148, 3:7703, 4:7652, and 5:167. Total admission rates by each level were 1:89.8, 2:68.2, 3:26.4, 4:6.6, and 5:0.6 %, which progressively increased from level 5 to 1 and were significant (p < 0.01). Compared with patients in level 3, the odds of total admission rates were 14.4, 5.1, 0.27, and 0.030 for the patients in levels 1, 2, 4, and 5. The length of stay was longer in the patients with the more urgent levels except for those with level 1.ConclusionsThe modified version of the Japanese Triage and Acuity Scale is a valid predictor of total admission and length of stay and may enable the nurses to triage patients without detecting the chief complaints.

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Blood serum from immunized humans or animals (e.g., horses) contains relevant antibodies and has been used as serum therapy to treat many diseases or envenomation events. The effectiveness of blood serum was initially discovered in 1890 when Kitasato and von Behring observed the effectiveness of this type of therapy against diphtheria and tetanus. Serum therapies played an important role in the advancement of modern medicine prior to the development of penicillin and steroids. At present, several types of serum therapy remain in clinical use. However, some physicians have a limited understanding of the nature and the benefits of serum therapy and the factors that require particular attention. In this review, we set out to clarify the benefits, cautions, and potential applications of serum therapy in the context of conditions such as gas gangrene, diphtheria, botulism, and tetanus and bites from three snake species (mamushi, habu, and yamakagashi) and the redback spider. It is hoped that this review will help clinicians to learn about clinical serum therapies and become familiar with their applications.

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Aim Little evidence on Japanese frequent presenters (FPs) is available. Therefore, this retrospective cohort study compared characteristics between FPs and non‐frequent presenters (NFPs) in emergency departments (EDs) in Japan. Methods Frequent presenters included those who presented to an ED ≥4 times during the study period from August 1, 2012 to July 21, 2013. The primary outcomes were triage level and disposition. Secondary outcomes were ED length of stay, method of arrival, and discharge diagnosis. Results During the study period, 195 FPs had 1,154 visits to the ED, compared to 15,953 visits by 13,838 NFPs. The sex distribution between FPs and NFPs was comparable (107 men [54.9%] versus 7,070 men [51.1%], respectively; P = 0.29), but the mean age was significantly higher in the FP group (57.3 versus 46.5 years, respectively; P < 0.0001). Among the FPs, the rate of free governmental health insurance was higher than that of those who pay 30% of health costs (35 patients paid 0% [79.5%] versus 109 patients paid 30% [42.6%], respectively). Condition severity (FP, 84 severe cases [7.28%]; NFP, 1,320 severe cases [8.27%], respectively) and rate of admission (FP, 207 admissions [17.9%]; NFP, 2,987 admissions [18.7%], respectively) were comparable between the groups, although the rate of ambulance use was lower for the FP group. The most frequent diagnostic codes (International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision) in the FP group were “symptoms and signs”. Conclusion Triage levels and hospital admission rates were not significantly different between FPs and NFPs in this single‐center study in Japan.

Background: Nontraumatic Stanford type A acute aortic dissection is a life-threatening

Riding a bicycle under the influence of alcohol is illegal in Japan. Nevertheless, intoxicated bicyclists are frequently treated at hospital emergency departments for bicycle-related injuries. This patient population usually requires more hospital resources, even for relatively minor injuries. Therefore, we hypothesized that bicycle-related crashes involving bicyclists under the influence of alcohol cost more to treat than those that do not involve alcohol intoxication. The aim of the present study was to examine the costs associated with bicycle-related minor injuries and alcohol intoxication of the bicyclist. The study was conducted at the Tokyo Bay Urayasu Ichikawa Medical Center Emergency Department, Japan. All minor bicycle crashes involving 217 individuals aged ≥20 years treated from September 1, 2012 to August 31, 2013 were included in the analysis of data obtained from medical records. Variables included alcohol intoxication, sex, age, collision with a motor vehicle, Glasgow Coma Scale, injury severity score (ISS), laboratory tests, treatment of wounds, number of X-ray images, number of computed tomography scans, and medical costs. Multiple linear regression analysis was performed to evaluate the association between alcohol intoxication and medical costs. Seventy (32%) patients consumed alcohol, and the median medical cost was 253 USD (interquartile range [IQR], 164–330). Multivariable analysis showed that alcohol intoxication was independently associated with higher medical costs (p = 0.030, adjusted R-square value = 0.55). These findings support our hypothesis and should encourage authorities to implement comprehensive measures to prohibit bicycling under the influence of alcohol to prevent injuries and to reduce medical costs.

To determine whether ketamine use for tracheal intubation, compared to other sedative use, is associated with a lower risk of post-intubation hypotension in hemodynamically-unstable patients in the emergency department (ED), we analyzed the data of a prospective, multicenter, observational study—the second Japanese Emergency Airway Network (JEAN-2) Study—from February 2012 through November 2017. The current analysis included adult non-cardiac-arrest ED patients with a pre-intubation shock index of ≥0.9. The primary exposure was ketamine use as a sedative for intubation, with midazolam or propofol use as the reference. The primary outcome was post-intubation hypotension. A total of 977 patients was included in the current analysis. Overall, 24% of patients developed post-intubation hypotension. The ketamine group had a lower risk of post-intubation hypotension compared to the reference group (15% vs 29%, unadjusted odds ratio [OR] 0.45 [95% CI 0.31–0.66] p < 0.001). This association remained significant in the multivariable analysis (adjusted OR 0.43 [95% CI 0.28–0.64] p < 0.001). Likewise, in the propensity-score matching analysis, the patients with ketamine use also had a significantly lower risk of post-intubation hypotension (OR 0.47 [95% CI, 0.31–0.71] P < 0.001). Our observations support ketamine use as a safe sedative agent for intubation in hemodynamically-unstable patients in the ED.