Emergency medicine Australasia : EMA
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Emerg Med Australas · Oct 2017
Epidemiology and outcomes of missing admission medication history in severe trauma: A retrospective study.
Anticoagulant and antiplatelet (ACAP) drugs are associated with increased mortality in trauma patients, therefore medication history on admission is important. Whether these medications are recorded on trauma admission has not been investigated, nor if absence of a medication history is associated with worse patient outcomes. ⋯ While a large number of severe trauma patients were admitted without a medication history, no-Hx patients did not appear at increased risk of adverse outcomes. ACAP patients had a higher mortality compared to no-ACAP highlighting the vulnerability of this group.
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Emerg Med Australas · Oct 2017
Visualising emergency department capacity in an 'Emergency Department Capacity Clock': A novel tool to assess and communicate overcrowding and access block.
Hospital-wide engagement is required to alleviate the problem of ED crowding and its associated adverse effects. To this end, the article describes a novel visualisation termed 'the ED Capacity Clock', which can be formatted using business intelligence software. This radial diagram represents ED capacity and its consumption in a format that can be understood intuitively and at a glance. The ED Capacity Clock is designed to promote common understanding and discussion between relevant hospital services and also acts as an auditing tool to monitor processes implemented to alleviate ED crowding.
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Emerg Med Australas · Oct 2017
Auckland regional emergency medicine trainee mentoring uptake survey.
The primary objective of this study is to quantify how many Auckland region emergency medicine (EM) trainees would like a formal mentoring programme. The secondary objectives were to quantify how many Auckland region EM trainees would like to participate in a formal mentoring programme; to determine trainees' current understanding of mentoring; how trainees prefer mentors to be allocated; why trainees may want a mentor; what mentees perceive would be good qualities in a mentor; and trainees' prior experience with mentoring. ⋯ Many EM trainees in Auckland want a formal mentoring system and would like a mentor. Appropriate mentor-mentee matching through a formalised voluntary system, with adequate mentor training, may enable the Auckland region to develop a suitable mentoring programme for EM trainees.