Evidence-Based Emergency Care

About the Editors x List of Contributors xiii Foreword xvi Acknowledgments xviii Section 1: The Science of Diagnostic Testing and Clinical Decision Rules 1 Diagnostic Testing in Emergency Care 3 2 Evidence- Based Medicine: The Process 14 3 The Epidemiology and Statistics of Diagnostic Testing 23 4 Clinical Decision Rules 43 5 Appropriate Testing in an Era of Limited Resources: Practice and Policy Consideration 53 6 Understanding Bias in Diagnostic Research 73 Section 2: Trauma 7 Cervical Spine Fractures 95 8 Blunt Abdominal Trauma 121 9 Acute Knee Injuries 128 10 Acute Ankle and Foot Injuries 134 11 Blunt Head Injury in Children 141 12 Adult Blunt Head Injury 162 13 Chest Trauma 174 14 Occult Hip Fracture 182 15 Blunt Soft Tissue Neck Trauma 189 16 Occult Scaphoid Fractures 195 17 Penetrating Abdominal Trauma 205 18 Penetrating Trauma to the Extremities and Vascular Injuries 214 Section 3: Cardiology 19 Heart Failure 227 20 Syncope 237 21 Chest Pain 256 22 Palpitations 276 Section 4: Infectious Disease 23 Bacterial Meningitis in Children 291 24 Serious Bacterial Infections in Children Aged 0 to 60/90 Days 299 25 Necrotizing Soft Tissue Infection 309 26 Infective Endocarditis 321 27 Pharyngitis 327 28 Rhinosinusitis 335 29 Pneumonia 340 30 Urinary Tract Infection 353 31 Sepsis 360 32 Adult Septic Arthritis 377 33 Osteomyelitis 388 34 Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) 401 35 Influenza 409 36 Fever without a Source 3–36 Months 416 Section 5: Surgical and Abdominal Complaints 37 Acute Nonspecific Nontraumatic Abdominal Pain 425 38 Small Bowel Obstruction 439 39 Acute Pancreatitis 447 40 Acute Appendicitis 457 41 Acute Cholecystitis 472 42 Aortic Emergencies 482 43 Ovarian Torsion 489 Section 6: Urology 44 Nephrolithiasis 499 45 Testicular Torsion 512 Section 7: Neurology 46 Nontraumatic Subarachnoid Hemorrhage 523 47 Acute Stroke 536 48 Transient Ischemic Attack 547 49 First- Episode Seizure 559 Section 8: Miscellaneous: Hematology Ophthalmology Pulmonology Rheumatology and Geriatrics 50 Pulmonary Embolism 571 51 Deep Vein Thrombosis 583 52 Temporal Arteritis 591 53 Intraocular Pressure 598 54 Asthma 608 55 Acute Low Back Pain 621 56 Intravascular Volume Status 631 57 Geriatric Screening 638 58 Skin and Soft Tissue Infections 658 59 Shared Decision- Making in Diagnostic Testing 664 60 Cognitive Biases and Mitigation Strategies in Emergency Diagnosis 678 61 Diagnosis in Telemedicine 699 62 Diagnosing COVID- 19 723 Index 735