Emergency medicine Australasia : EMA
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Emerg Med Australas · Aug 2007
Editorial Comment Historical ArticleEmergency Medicine: a global specialty.
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The largest democracy on earth, the second most populous country and one of the most progressive countries in the globe, India, has advanced tremendously in most conventional fields of Medicine. However, emergency medicine (EM) is a nascent specialty and is yet to receive an identity. Today, it is mostly practised by inadequately trained clinicians in poorly equipped emergency departments (EDs), with no networking. ⋯ The present article intends to highlight factors that continue to challenge the handful of dedicated, full time emergency physicians who have tenaciously pursued the cause for the past decade. A three-pronged synchronous development strategy is recommended: (i) recognise the specialty of EM as a distinct and independent basic specialty; (ii) initiate postgraduate training in EM, thus enabling EDs in all hospitals to be staffed by trained Emergency physicians; and (iii) ensure that EMs are staffed by trained ambulance officers. The time is ripe for a paradigm shift, since the country is aware that emergency care is the felt need of the hour and it is the right of the citizen.
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Emergency medicine in the highly advanced world is traditionally performed in two different ways. The first is the well-known Anglo-American system with skilled EDs, and a pre-hospital emergency medical service utilizing paramedics. The second is the so-called Franco-German system, with a highly developed pre-hospital emergency physician service, but only a basic organization of hospital-based emergency medicine. ⋯ The last milestone, the development of academic emergency centres, has only just started. This process will take some time. The present paper describes the present and future of emergency medicine in some European countries using these criteria.
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Emerg Med Australas · Aug 2007
Comparative StudyThe safety of nurse clearance of the cervical spine using the National Emergency X-radiography Utilization Study low-risk criteria.
To determine the level of agreement between trained ED nursing staff and senior ED medical staff in the application and interpretation of the National Emergency X-radiography Utilization Study (NEXUS) low-risk criteria (NLC). ⋯ The study demonstrated a high level of agreement between nursing and medical staff for stable low-risk trauma patients.
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Emerg Med Australas · Aug 2007
Factors affecting severity of bicycle-related injuries: the role of helmets in preventing head injuries.
To identify factors that affect the severity of bicycle-related injuries in patients with head injury compared with those without, so as to find whether the effect of using helmets extends beyond head protection, and to explore a direct protective effect of helmets on head injuries. ⋯ The reduced severity of injury in helmeted patients is because of protection of the head and not other body regions.