https://medicalxpress.com/emergency-medicine-news/ en-us Latest medical news and research in Emergency medicine The overall death rate of children and adolescents in the United States increased 6.6% between 2020 and 2023, researchers reported on May 13 in the New England Journal of Medicine. Many of the top causes of death in young people—including firearms, car accidents, and poisoning—lead to injuries that are treated in emergency departments. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-05-child-death-states.html Thu, 21 May 2026 17:00:03 EDT news698588281 A large, multi-center study led by Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago has derived achievable benchmarks of care (ABCs) using electronic health record data, which allows pediatric emergency departments across the country to set high yet realistic performance goals. The new benchmarks are based on high achievers—a shift away from relying on peer averages in performance metrics. The study is published in JAMA Network Open. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-05-benchmarks-based-aim-excellence-pediatric.html Tue, 19 May 2026 11:00:01 EDT news698335501 A city-wide mold intervention in public housing can reduce asthma emergency department (ED) visits, according to a study presented at the American Thoracic Society 2026 International Conference, held from May 15 to 20 in Orlando, Florida. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-05-ats-city-wide-mold-intervention.html Mon, 18 May 2026 15:20:01 EDT news698331404 Giving whole blood or the component parts of blood are equally effective options for paramedics and emergency medical technicians to use in treating patients with severe, traumatic bleeding before arriving at the hospital, according to a large, nationwide trial directed by University of Pittsburgh and UPMC clinicians and scientists. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-05-prehospital-trauma-flexible-option-blood.html Mon, 18 May 2026 15:10:02 EDT news698325241 A new study from scientists at the University of California San Diego in collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, and other institutions, demonstrates that an artificial intelligence-powered CPR coaching agent can outperform 911 dispatchers in guiding bystanders through cardiopulmonary resuscitation. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-05-ai-powered-cpr-outperforms-dispatchers.html Mon, 18 May 2026 11:00:08 EDT news698056769 A research team from Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacy at the LKS Faculty of Medicine, the University of Hong Kong (HKUMed), in collaboration with the InnoHK Advanced Biomedical Instrumentation Centre (ABIC), has developed the world's first "NanoPowder nasal spray." This innovation successfully overcomes the challenge of crossing the blood-brain barrier (BBB), enabling the delivery of medication to the brain without the need for injections or surgery. When used promptly at the early onset of stroke, the nasal spray provides prehospital emergency treatment, helping to save time, thus protecting brain cells and reducing complications. In the long term, it has the potential to become a community-based emergency rescue tool. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-05-nasal-spray-prehospital-emergency-aid.html Sun, 10 May 2026 08:30:03 EDT news697377962 Children who need life-saving emergency surgery after a serious injury are almost six times more likely to die in poorer countries than in wealthier ones, according to an international study led by the University of Cambridge. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-05-emergency-surgery-childhood-injury-sixfold.html Thu, 07 May 2026 18:30:06 EDT news697359100 Artificial intelligence can now outperform doctors at diagnosing patients in the emergency department, according to a new study in Science. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-05-ai-emergency-department-powerful-unproven.html Thu, 07 May 2026 12:00:08 EDT news697373942 After an emergency department visit for an opioid overdose, 9% of individuals died and 21% experienced a repeat opioid overdose in the following year, according to a new study from ICES and the Center for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-05-opioid-overdose-survivors-higher-death.html Thu, 07 May 2026 11:00:15 EDT news697295461 Hospital care teams make decisions that can have life-or-death consequences, and they do it as quickly as possible with information that's often incomplete. While spending several months in a neonatal intensive care unit, Abhijith Anand, an assistant professor of information systems at the Sam M. Walton College of Business, observed the case of a premature infant with "patent ductus arteriosus," a birth defect in the heart. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-05-nicu-decisions-hospital-analytics-investments.html Thu, 07 May 2026 08:00:03 EDT news697358042 Severe bleeding after trauma can rapidly become life-threatening. In a new doctoral thesis from Karolinska Institutet, Marcus Wannberg examines how the body's coagulation system begins to fail early after injury, which injuries most often lead to fatal bleeding, and how high-risk injuries can be identified. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-05-qa-body-clotting-severe-trauma.html Wed, 06 May 2026 15:40:08 EDT news697299481 Hospitals in Baltimore see an uptick in asthma-related emergency room cases in the weeks following nighttime heat waves in their neighboring communities, according to new research from Johns Hopkins University. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-05-baltimore-emergency-rooms-spike-asthma.html Wed, 06 May 2026 09:00:05 EDT news697195801 Warning: this article contains details of injuries sustained during a terrorist attack. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-bondi-beach-terror-mobilized-team.html Sat, 02 May 2026 09:00:05 EDT news696681027 In one of the largest studies to compare artificial intelligence and physicians on a wide array of clinical reasoning tasks including real emergency department data, a team of physicians and computer scientists at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center evaluated whether an AI system could do what physicians do every day: review a messy patient chart and use that information to determine diagnosis and next steps. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-ai-surpasses-physicians-clinical-tasks.html Thu, 30 Apr 2026 14:00:02 EDT news696688261 Researchers at McGill University have developed a rapid way to engineer blood clots that stop severe bleeding and support tissue healing more effectively. Their technique, called "click clotting," links red blood cell surface proteins through a chemical reaction, resulting in a biocompatible clot that is 13 times more resistant to fracturing and four times more adhesive than natural blood clots. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-click-clotting-fast-emergency.html Wed, 29 Apr 2026 11:00:17 EDT news696590411 Fatal delays in administering life-saving adrenaline autoinjector (EpiPen) for food anaphylaxis, a severe and rapid allergic reaction, are highlighted in research presented at the Royal College of Emergency Medicine Conference. Researchers are urging for updated guidelines on the use of adrenaline treatment such as EpiPens and the hospital management of severe food anaphylaxis. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-uncovers-fatal-delays-epipen-treatment.html Tue, 28 Apr 2026 07:40:01 EDT news696578642 A team of Marshall University researchers has published a new study suggesting a potential breakthrough in how doctors manage severe agitation caused by methamphetamine and/or cocaine use, particularly in cases in which opioids have also been used. Michael Hambuchen, PharmD, Ph.D., with Marshall's School of Pharmacy and Todd Davies, Ph.D., at the Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine, are studying the use of dexmedetomidine-naloxone for treatment. Their preclinical study was published in the Journal of Pharmacy of Pharmaceutical Sciences and is available here. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-combination-treatment-safer-effective-drug.html Sun, 26 Apr 2026 20:00:04 EDT news695911384 Rural-residing adolescents are twice as likely to die by suicide compared to their urban-residing peers. To better support crisis care for rural youth, researchers developed Plan & Protect, a technology-guided safety planning program for youth with suicidality seeking care in rural emergency departments. Plan & Protect aims to enhance accessibility, usability, and fidelity of safety planning in resource-limited emergency departments, with a goal of supporting more effective crisis care for adolescents in rural communities. The program and findings from the study will be presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) 2026 Meeting, taking place April 24–27 in Boston. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-rural-adolescents-die-suicide-urban.html Fri, 24 Apr 2026 12:20:01 EDT news696246062 A major study, led by researchers at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Nemours Children's Health, and Children's National Hospital and involving an extensive network of medical centers across the United States and abroad, found that different types of crystalloid fluid resuscitation were equally effective for staving off the most serious adverse kidney events after the treatment of pediatric patients with suspected septic shock. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-large-international-similar-efficacy-safety.html Fri, 24 Apr 2026 00:00:01 EDT news696175648 A freeze-dried blood product that could be stored for years on ambulances or in remote emergency departments is showing promise at treating traumatic brain injuries. The news comes from a mouse study done by researchers at UC San Francisco. If it pans out in people, it could answer a huge unmet need for therapies that treat these injuries, which are the leading cause of death in people under 44 years old. A research paper on this topic is published in the Blood Journal. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-dried-platelet-product-traumatic-brain.html Thu, 23 Apr 2026 17:10:02 EDT news696178441 Exclusive data published in The BMJ today show that 13,386 patients in England waited at least three days for A&E (accident and emergency) treatment last year, part of almost 500,000 who spent over 24 hours stuck in NHS emergency departments—before either being admitted, transferred, or discharged—in 2025. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-reveals-patients-days-england-emergency.html Wed, 22 Apr 2026 18:30:05 EDT news696070321 A new study on sepsis training in Ghana builds on prior research showing the impact of Annenberg Hotkeys, a free platform developed in 2020. It is being used in other medical settings—and its co-creator sees potential in nonmedical uses. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-free-medical-telesimulation-platform-children.html Wed, 22 Apr 2026 13:40:01 EDT news696075312 Patients experiencing higher levels of socioeconomic marginalization and without established family physicians were more likely to seek initial concussion care in hospital emergency departments (EDs) rather than outpatient settings, according to a new study from ICES, the CHEO Research Institute, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), and the Ontario Brain Institute (OBI). These patients, particularly those without family physicians, were also significantly less likely to receive follow-up care within 30 days of their first visit. The research is published in JAMA Network Open. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-concussion-patients-family-doctors-emergency.html Wed, 22 Apr 2026 11:00:10 EDT news696071702 The average age of a young fatal stab victim is now 14, indicates an analysis of the causes of death among children and teens in England between 2019 and 2024, published online in Emergency Medicine Journal. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-knife-deaths-average-victim-age.html Mon, 20 Apr 2026 18:30:02 EDT news695894812 Emergency physicians who play a video game about trauma triage outperform their peers who only receive standard education when it comes to properly caring for severely injured older adults. These findings are published in JAMA. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-video-game-emergency-doctor-trauma.html Mon, 20 Apr 2026 11:00:16 EDT news695644322 Measles remains one of the most contagious infectious diseases, spread through coughing and sneezing, with even small declines in vaccination coverage leading to outbreaks. As of 2026, California has reported its highest annual measles case count in seven years. In response to this growing concern, researchers have begun examining gaps in measles-related knowledge and vaccination coverage. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-emergency-room-survey-uncovers-measles.html Sat, 18 Apr 2026 06:40:42 EDT news695713179 Using data from hospitals and emergency medical service providers to map out areas with the greatest need for trauma care and prehospital whole blood transfusions can enable hospital systems to deploy scarce blood resources quickly and minimize waste, according to a study published in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons (JACS). https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-cities-efficiently-deploy-blood-resources.html Thu, 16 Apr 2026 11:00:06 EDT news695543553 By conducting the world's first randomized clinical trial, researchers have demonstrated that while overall survival rates remained comparable in this initial phase, TEE-guided precision CPR enhances end-tidal CO2 levels (indicating better CPR quality and forward blood flow), transforming traditional "blind" compressions into a data-driven science. This research, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, paves the way for individually customized resuscitation, challenging global standards to maximize survival for millions worldwide. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-cpr-high-tech-transesophageal-echocardiography.html Thu, 09 Apr 2026 17:20:01 EDT news694971241 As electric scooters (e-scooters) become more available in cities and urban areas, injuries are becoming more common—especially among teenage boys. This is among the findings from a new study using a national database of e-scooter injuries, which also found racial and ethnic disparities among those injured. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-electric-scooter-injuries-racial-ethnic.html Tue, 07 Apr 2026 12:10:02 EDT news694780681 A study of young adults treated in emergency departments found that the SaFETy (Serious fighting, Friend weapon carrying, community Environment, and firearm Threats) score, a firearm-specific risk screening tool, can meaningfully predict the risk of interpersonal firearm violence within 12 months. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-er-screening-tool-accurately-firearm.html Mon, 06 Apr 2026 17:00:01 EDT news694686001