Emergency medicine Australasia : EMA
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Emerg Med Australas · Dec 2015
Randomised control trial of humidified high flow nasal cannulae versus standard oxygen in the emergency department.
The aim of the study was to determine if oxygen delivered through humidified high flow nasal cannulae (HHFNC) reduced the need for escalation in ventilation management and work of breathing in the ED patients presenting with acute undifferentiated shortness of breath compared with standard oxygen therapy. ⋯ The use of high flow nasal cannula oxygenation was associated with improved respiratory state in selected patients presenting to the ED with acute undifferentiated shortness of breath.
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Prognostic models are commonly used in the clinical setting. The objective of the study is to evaluate the prognostic accuracy of the Rapid Emergency Medical Score (REMS) or alternate models. ⋯ The availability of a validated tool such as Retrieval REMS assists recognition of high-risk patients and consideration of this risk in retrieval mission planning and response.
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Emerg Med Australas · Dec 2015
Use of a telenursing triage service by Victorian parents attending the emergency department for their child's lower urgency condition.
The Victorian Nurse-On-Call (NOC) service has been in use for over 8 years, though little research has been conducted investigating the service. The present study aimed to explore whether parents in Victoria presenting with their child to the ED for lower urgency conditions use the NOC before ED arrival and whether the advice given impacts their decision to attend the ED. ⋯ The findings of our study show that use and awareness of NOC is low in parents attending the ED for their child's lower urgency condition. The success of NOC in the goal of deferring non-urgent conditions from presenting to the ED appears limited. Telenursing triage services in Australia should consider assessment of their algorithms to increase the likelihood that where appropriate, lower urgency conditions are directed to primary care services rather than the ED.