Emergency medicine Australasia : EMA
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To define the presenting symptoms and clinical progress of surgically proven cases of ovarian torsion presenting to a tertiary women's hospital. ⋯ The diagnosis of ovarian torsion remains challenging. Clinical characteristics lack sensitivity and specificity and ultrasound diagnosis is not definitive. Laparoscopy remains the investigation of choice. Despite delays in diagnosis this study demonstrates relatively high ovarian salvage rates compared with most published data.
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Emerg Med Australas · Jun 2005
Witnessing invasive paediatric procedures, including resuscitation, in the emergency department: a parental perspective.
To determine whether parents prefer to be present during invasive procedures performed on their children in the ED. ⋯ Most parents surveyed would want to be present when invasive procedures are performed on their children in the ED. With increasing invasiveness, parental desire to be present decreased. However, the overwhelming majority of parents would want to be in attendance during procedural sedation or resuscitation.
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Emerg Med Australas · Jun 2005
Clinical TrialEmergency physicians can reliably assess emergency department patient cardiac output using the USCOM continuous wave Doppler cardiac output monitor.
1 To develop a training package for ultrasonic cardiac output monitor (USCOM) cardiac output assessments and determine the number of proctored studies necessary for skill acquisition. 2 To develop criteria for acceptance of cardiac output results obtained with the USCOM. 3 To evaluate the reliability of USCOM cardiac output assessments in the ED. ⋯ Emergency physicians with no prior ultrasonographic experience can be trained to obtain reliable cardiac output estimations upon conscious ED patients with the USCOM over the course of 20 patient assessments.
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Recreational use of amphetamines is common in Australia and New Zealand when compared with other developed nations. The clinical effects are variable because of the potential of these drugs to increase the proportion of different biogenic amines in the central nervous system (CNS). The substances affected are adrenaline, noradrenaline, serotonin and dopamine. Movement disorders represent one of the less common presentations of amphetamine toxicity but one that health care workers should be aware of nonetheless.
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Emerg Med Australas · Jun 2005
Update on the fellowship exam and its relation to modern educational principles and clinical competency.
The Australasian College for Emergency Medicine is committed to a long term process of quality improvement in the fellowship examination and the training programme leading up to it. The process of quality improvement and the rationale for current and future processes are not always clear to the fellowship as a whole. ⋯ More research is required into the relevance of each component of the fellowship exam and its relation to clinical competency, key competencies and good clinical practice. Any subsequent changes to the exam structure must take into account the evidence and be balanced by what is practicable, reasonable and deliverable.