Emergency medicine Australasia : EMA
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Emerg Med Australas · Aug 2013
Timing of appropriate antibiotics in patients with septic shock: a retrospective cohort study.
The objective of the present study was to describe the factors associated with delays in the delivery of appropriate antibiotics to patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) from the ED or wards with septic shock. ⋯ This retrospective cohort study found that there were significant delays associated with the administration of appropriate antibiotics in patients admitted to the ICU from the ED or the wards with septic shock. Delays were greater in patients who were not seen by an emergency physician, those in whom the diagnosis of sepsis was not considered initially and in those whose therapy was delayed while awaiting the performance of investigations.
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Emerg Med Australas · Aug 2013
'To teach or not to teach?' Factors that motivate and constrain Australian emergency medicine physicians to teach medical students.
Clinical teaching in the ED is crucial to the education of medical students. We attempted to identify and describe Australian emergency physicians who are currently clinical teachers and to elicit the factors that motivate and constrain them to teach. ⋯ Although most emergency physicians are willing to teach, systemic and university factors associated with teaching medical students acted against success of this outcome.
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Emerg Med Australas · Aug 2013
2010-2011 Queensland floods: using Haddon's Matrix to define and categorise public safety strategies.
The 2010-2011 Queensland floods resulted in the most deaths from a single flood event in Australia since 1916. This article analyses the information on these deaths for comparison with those from previous floods in modern Australia in an attempt to identify factors that have contributed to those deaths. Haddon's Matrix, originally designed for prevention of road trauma, offers a framework for understanding the interplay between contributing factors and helps facilitate a clearer understanding of the varied strategies required to ensure people's safety for particular flood types. ⋯ The present study and its integration of research findings and conceptual frameworks might assist governments and communities to develop policies and strategies to prevent flood injury and fatalities.