Assessment of carotid artery stenosis before coronary artery bypass surgery. Is it always necessary?
In our cohort, selective screening of patients aged>70 years, with carotid bruit, a history of cerebrovascular disease, diabetes mellitus or PVD would have reduced the screening load by 40%, with trivial impact on surgical management or neurological outcomes.
The implementation of a fentanyl-based pain management protocol resulted in a marked reduction in time to initial analgesia among trauma patients. There was no evidence of an increase in adverse events. This tool has the potential to be easily extrapolated and applied to other trauma systems.