Novel Drug Authorized for Critically Ill COVID-19 Patients
The FDA has issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) for vilobelimab (Gohibic) to treat critically ill adults with COVID-19. In the EUA for the first-in-class monoclonal anti-human complement factor C5a antibody, the agency specified that the therapy be initiated within 48 hours of invasive mechanical ventilation or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). It is given at […]
Opinion | Moderna’s Steep COVID Vaccine Price: Corporate Greed or Capitalism?
On May 11, the U.S. public health emergency (PHE) for COVID-19 will end. And with it, many Americans will no longer have access to free, government-sponsored COVID vaccines. Under the Public Health Service (PHS) Act, the U.S. government purchased and distributed COVID-19 vaccines for free to its populace, regardless of insurance or citizenship status. The […]
Final State Emergencies Winding Down 3 Years Into COVID Pandemic
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California’s coronavirus emergency officially ends Tuesday, nearly three years after Gov. Gavin Newsom issued the nation’s first statewide stay-at-home order and just days after the state reached the grim milestone of 100,000 deaths related to the virus. As California’s emergency winds down, such declarations continue in just five other states — […]
WHO: COVID Still An Emergency But Nearing ‘Inflection’ Point
GENEVA (AP) — The coronavirus remains a global health emergency, the World Health Organization chief said Monday, after a key advisory panel found the pandemic may be nearing an “inflexion point” where higher levels of immunity can lower virus-related deaths. Speaking at the opening of WHO’s annual executive board meeting, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus […]
Fewer Emergency Department Visits End With Opioid Prescriptions
Fewer emergency department (ED) visits end with a prescription for opioids, CDC survey data showed. The percentage of ED visits with an opioid prescribed at discharge fell from 12.2% in 2017-2018 to 8.1% in 2019-2020, reported Loredana Santo, MD, MPH, and Susan Schappert, MA, of the National Center for Health Statistics in Hyattsville, Maryland, in […]
Be Alert For Ectopic Pregnancy After Self-Managed Abortion
Clinicians in the emergency department (ED) and primary care settings should be prepared to spot complications of self-managed abortion, according to a case report. A patient who had attempted self-managed abortion presented to the ED with a ruptured ectopic pregnancy that went undetected, reported Isabel Beshar, MD, of Stanford University in California, and colleagues. They […]
High-Intensity Billing for ‘Treat and Release’ ED Visits Has Shot Up Since 2006
High-intensity billing during “treat and release” emergency department (ED) visits rose dramatically over the last two decades, according to an observational study. From 2006 to 2019, the share of treat-and-release visits at the ED (those where patients were not admitted) that included high-intensity billing jumped from 4.8% to 19.2%, reported researchers led by Alexander Janke, […]
Opinion | ‘I’ve Never Seen Anything Like This’ in the Pediatric ED
Walking out of a shift in the pediatric emergency department (ED) lately is a heavy mix of relief, guilt, and pure exhaustion. Wading through wall-to-wall families, huddled in blankets and sweatshirts through long hours waiting to be seen, you wish you could do more, find more beds, create more staff. You’ve spent hours running from […]
Emergency Physician Faces Charges After Car Crash Kills Colleague
An emergency medicine physician is facing a myriad of charges following a car accident in July that claimed the life of his 47-year-old colleague, Douglas Rockacy, MD, from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), CBS Pittsburgh reported. In addition to DUI charges, Joseph Yanta, MD, 38, is also facing charges of homicide by vehicle […]
How Well Do Opioids Stack Up for Musculoskeletal Pain in the ED?
For musculoskeletal pain in the emergency department (ED), opioids weren’t clearly better than other analgesics across studies in a systematic review and meta-analysis. When evaluated at a median of around 2 hours of follow-up, opioids were not statistically or clinically more effective against pain than nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs; mean difference [MD] -0.1 on a […]