ReviewJournal of the American College of Emergency Physicians open2026
Condition-Specific Protocols Used in the Emergency Department Observation Unit: A Scoping Review.
Review in Journal of the American College of Emergency Physicians open, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- [Clinical Decision Unit in the emergency department-a systems analysis of a clinical decision model for hospital admission management].Medizinische Klinik, Intensivmedizin und Notfallmedizin · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Emergency Department Observation Units (EDOUs) provide time-limited care for patients not clearly requiring inpatient admission. Despite widespread adoption, evidence describing condition-specific EDOU protocols remains fragmented. We conducted a scoping review to map the clinical conditions, characteristics, and outcomes of published EDOU protocols. Methods: This review follows the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) guidelines. PubMed was searched for articles published between January 1, 2000, and June 1, 2025. Eligible publications reported condition-specific EDOU clinical care pathways for adult populations. Articles were screened and extracted by 2 reviewers in Covidence. Findings were summarized using descriptive statistics and Poisson regression modeling. Results: Of 6,741 publications identified, 239 met the inclusion criteria. Publications appeared in 93 journals and increased annually by 4%. Most studies were observational (72%) and conducted at academic centers (78%). Most protocols addressed diagnostic (45%) or diagnostic-therapeutic (28%) pathways, although there was a recent increasing trend in therapeutic pathways. Cardiology, particularly chest pain management, represented the predominant clinical focus, followed by infectious disease. Protocols describing geriatric care and viral illness management showed significant annual increases of 16% and 19%, respectively. Frequently reported outcomes included disposition rates, mortality, and return emergency department visits, whereas patient- and provider-centered outcomes were less commonly assessed. Conclusions: The EDOU protocol literature has expanded substantially over the past 25 years but remains concentrated in a limited number of clinical domains. Greater emphasis on underrepresented conditions and outcome measures may help guide the next generation of evidence-based EDOU protocols.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.