Emergency medicine Australasia : EMA
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Emerg Med Australas · Jun 2016
Pacific ethnic groups and frequent hospital presentation: A fair target?
In New Zealand, Pacific health figures are traditionally presented for all Pacific ethnic groups combined. Use of EDs and urgent care clinics is high compared with Maori and non-Maori, non-Pacific (nMnP) use. By controlling for proximity to the hospital and socioeconomic status, we demonstrate greater variation between Pacific ethnic groups than between Pacific and nMnP, or between Maori and nMnP groups. We discuss the significance of subpopulation variation in use of urgent care services.
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Emerg Med Australas · Jun 2016
Comparative Study Observational StudyMedical scribes in emergency medicine produce financially significant productivity gains for some, but not all emergency physicians.
The present study aims to determine if a scribe in an Australian ED can assist emergency physicians to work with increased productivity and to investigate when and where to allocate a scribe and to whom. ⋯ In the present study, scribe usage was associated with overall improvements in primary consultations per hour of 13% per scribed hour, and this varied depending on the physician. There is an economic argument for allocating scribes to some emergency physicians on days, evenings and weekends, not to trainees.
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Emerg Med Australas · Jun 2016
Observational StudyHuman factors in the emergency department: Is physician perception of time to intubation and desaturation rate accurate?
The main objective of the present study was to examine the perceived versus actual time to intubation (TTI) as an indication to help determine the situational awareness of Emergency Physicians during rapid sequence intubation and, additionally, to determine the physician's perception of desaturation events. ⋯ Our findings have shown that provider's perception of TTI occurs sooner than actually observed. Also, the providers were less aware of desaturation during the procedure.
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Emerg Med Australas · Jun 2016
Observational StudyEstimation of the potential eye and tissue donor pool in an Australian emergency department.
EDs have long been considered a potential source of eye and tissue donors, but no specific evidence to support this was identified in the Australian setting. The present study aims to bridge that knowledge gap, by analysing medical and social histories of those who have died over a 5 year period so as to determine donation eligibility in this population. ⋯ The present study has identified a large pool of potential eye and tissue donors; a pool mostly unrecognised by emergency clinicians. An extensive list of exclusion criteria restricts donor potential. However, the present study has identified that only five fundamentally limit donation in the ED population. Utilisation of this knowledge will allow for the development of clinical triggers that will improve identification, and increase realisation, of potential donors.