Objective: This study aimed to determine the prevalence of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) post-COVID-19 pandemic among healthcare workers (HCWs) in pediatric emergency departments in Maternity and Children Hospital in Al-Qassim, Saudi Arabia. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among HCWs working in the pediatric emergency department in the Maternity and Children Hospital in Al-Qassim Region, Saudi Arabia. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed among the HCWs using an online survey. The questionnaire included socio-demographic characteristics, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) to measure sleep quality, and the Impact of Event Scale (IES-R) to measure HCWs' PTSD. Results: Of the 107 HCWs, 87.9% were females, and 56.1% were aged between 25 to 35 years. Around 29% of pediatric emergency HCWs were considered to have PTSD symptoms. Poor sleep quality was detected in 61.7% of HCWs. There was a significant association between PTSD symptoms and all domains of PSQI, including the total... Continue Reading

Background: Digital platforms' usage in medical education is pivotal worldwide. Despite the benefits and hazards of social media use in emergency medicine (EM) education, little is known about young medical residents' attitudes and social media habits whe n they begin their EM careers. Objectives: The study aimed to estimate the utilization rates of different social media platforms for educational purposes by EM residents in Saudi Arabia. Methods: A focused revisit of this relationship between hand size and ventilation performance through manikin simulation testing of 122 emergency medical services professionals in Maryland evaluated the ventilator parameters of breath rate (BR), tidal volume (TV), and MV. Results: A total of 110 EM residents participated in the study. Data showed that the most used platforms for professional purposes were medical applications (29.1%), WhatsApp, and YouTube (20.0% and 16.4%), and the least used application was Instagram (0.9%). Medical applications were the most utilized platform... Continue Reading

Objective: This study aimed to assess the extent of public knowledge of the causes, management, and preventive measures of common physical traumas among the adult population of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Methods: We distributed a questionnaire provided in both Arabic and English among all willing adults above 18 years old who were not involved in health advocating services/studies present in two malls in the northern and southern parts of Jeddah City. The questionnaire was distributed from December 2016 to November 2017.Data were collected and interpreted using an SPSS spreadsheet. Results: In total, 911 participants were enrolled in this study; 47% (n = 429) were men, and 53% (n = 482) were women. The no-response rate among the variables ranged from 2% to 12%. The age group with the highest number enrolled was 25-34 years (38%, n = 348). The majority of participants were employed (56%, n = 489), and up to... Continue Reading

Introduction: Cyclopentolate is a widely used mydriatic agent with a rapid onset cycloplegic effect. Systemic toxicity from an ophthalmic application is uncommon. Case Presentation: We present a case of a 13-year-old girl who presented to the emergency department with a generalized seizure after receiving 1% cyclopentolate for three drops in each eye, over 15 minutes, as instructed by the prescriber. The seizure began 30 minutes after receiving the last dose. We also describe the general presentation, characteristics of affected patients, and management of this adverse drug event. Cyclopentolate systemic toxicity is dose-dependent. Conclusion: This case highlights the importance of caution when using topical ophthalmic cycloplegics in children. Continue Reading

Objective: This study aimed to find if certain places are more contaminated by SARS COV-2 than the others in an Emergency Department (ED) of a tertiary care hospital. Methods: This was a prospective cross-sectional study carried out at the tertiary care hospital of Dubai. The study was carried out over a course of 4 weeks. Total 50 swab samples were taken. Twenty five were collected from the "dirty" areas and twenty five from the "clean" areas. Patients who had a positive SARS-COV-2 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test in both areas were included in the study. Results: From a total of 50 swabs collected, large number of swabs was collected from resuscitation and major treatment area (38% and 30%, respectively). Of total, positive SARS-COV-2 PCR was detected on 38% of swabs. Of which 44% were from dirty areas and 32% were from clean areas. Considering areas of ED positive SARS COV-2... Continue Reading

Background: Retroperitoneal panniculitis is a rare, benign, and nonspecific inflammatory disease that affects the retroperitoneal adipose tissue. The specific cause of the disease is unknown. The diagnosis is evoked by computed tomography (CT) and is rarely confirmed by biopsies. Surgical resection is sometimes attempted for complicated forms. A case of a 22-year-old man was presented who was diagnosed with retroperitoneal panniculitis, further, a literature review was also conducted to compare various presentations, etiologies, and potential treatment modalities. Case presentation: A 22-year-old man presented to the emergency department with acute abdominal pain and episodes of postprandial vomiting. A physical examination revealed marked epigastric tenderness accompanied by abdominal distension. The blood examination revealed normal lipase and amylase levels. An abdominal contrast-enhanced CT showed retroperitoneal panniculitis complicated by a paralytic ileus. A self-limiting course of the disease was obtained by adopting a conservative approach. After 20 days, there were no abnormal findings on... Continue Reading

Background: In published animal studies, N-methyl-D-aspartate antagonists such as ketamine (KET) have been reported to reduce Status epilepticus (SE) even after benzodiazepines had failed. In addition, there are studies on the human population that have reported on the use of KET to manage SE seizures. However, despite its history of use as an anesthetic, there are few published review studies on using KET in the treatment of refractory SE (RSE). Objective: This research aims to determine whether KET is an effective treatment for RSE and super-refractory (SRSE) in both children and adult patients. Methods: A systematic search was done on PubMed, EMBASE, Google Scholar, and Cochrane databases from inception until September 12, 2022. In addition, a search was also done for gray literature (ClinicalTrials.gov and World Health Organization International Clinical Trials Registry Platform). Results: The initial search identified 164 articles and only 21 were included in this systematic review; 10... Continue Reading

Aim: This meta-analysis and systematic review aims to investigate and compare the efficacy of mannitol and hypertonic saline in treating patients who have suffered from traumatic brain injury (TBI). Methods: We reviewed publications from the Medline database, Web of Science, and Google Scholar from inception to 13 October 2022 with only English-based literature. The risk of bias from included Randomized controlled trial (RCT) s was assessed using the Cochrane Collaboration's Tool. Newcastle-Ottawa Scale was employed to assess the included cohort's quality. The main outcomes of this review were treatment failure, mortality, intracranial pressure (ICP) reduction, and Cerebral Perfusion Pressure (CPP) increment. All the statistical analyses were performed using the Review Manager 5.4.1. A random-effects model was used to pool the studies when heterogeneity was seen, and the results were reported in the odds ratios (OR) and mean differences (MD) and the corresponding 95% confidence intervals. Results: The results of the... Continue Reading

Background: Road traffic accidents (RTAs) are a leading cause of mortality and morbidity in the young population and are a growing problem worldwide. This study is a comprehensive analysis of the spatiotemporal patterns of 352,464 RTAs in Saudi Arabia from 2017 to 2018. Methods: This study consists of three principal phases of analysis (exploratory data analysis of the RTA dataset by analyzing population involvement in RTAs and mortality or morbidity, we examined the geographic and temporal distribution of RTA, and we performed a spatial hotspot analysis per region on a monthly basis using local Moran's I hotspot clustering). This study presented the monthly spatiotemporal patterns of RTAs in Saudi Arabia in 1439 Hijri and data were obtained from the Saudi Open Data Portal for all. Results: Four cities, Ar Riyad, Ash Sharqiyah, Makkah, and Jeddah, were in the top 25% of RTA involvement, mortality, and morbidity in Saudi Arabia. Four... Continue Reading

Background: Electrocardiograms (ECGs) are one of the most basic and fundamental screening tools used in the emergency department (ED). Previous studies have shown machine diagnosis of ECG to be unreliable, the ECG machine does provide a simpler classification of: 1- Normal, 2- Otherwise normal, 3- Borderline, and 4- Abnormal printed on the ECG. We aim to investigate if machine classification could be used reliably as a screening test for triage. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted from 1 to 14 June 2019 of ED at King Abdullah Medical Complex using electronic medical records. The ECGs were put into sets of 25 traces/set and then presented to 21 board-certified emergency medicine attending physicians (EMPs) to assess and decide on one of the actions: Put in the waiting area, see in triage, or admit immediately. The responses were analyzed for inter-subject correlation coefficient kappa (k). Results: Of the 3,149 patients, 452 had... Continue Reading