Emergency medicine Australasia : EMA
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The foundation of much medical research rests on the statistical significance of the P-value, but we have fallen prey to the seductive certainty of significance. Other scientific disciplines work to a different standard. This may partly explain why medical reversal is an increasing phenomenon, whereby new studies (based on the 0.05 standard) overturn previous significant findings. ⋯ Examples from emergency medicine practice illustrate these themes. Study replication needs to be valued as much as discovery. Careful and thoughtful unbiased thinking about the results we do have is undervalued.
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Emerg Med Australas · Apr 2017
Paramedic resuscitation competency: A survey of Australian and New Zealand emergency medical services.
We have previously established that paramedic exposure to out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is relatively rare, therefore clinical exposure cannot be relied on to maintain resuscitation competency. We aimed to identify the current practices within emergency medical services (EMS) for developing and maintaining paramedic resuscitation competency. ⋯ All of the surveyed EMS provided initial resuscitation training to paramedics, but competency testing and refresher training practices varied between services. A lack of individual exposure to cardiac arrest and training time were identified as barriers to resuscitation competency.
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Emerg Med Australas · Apr 2017
Computed tomography for head injuries in children: Change in Australian usage rates over time.
Paediatric head injury is a common presentation to the ED. North American studies demonstrate increasing use of computed tomography (CT) brain scan (CTB) to investigate head injury. No such data exists for Australian EDs. The aim of this study was to describe CTB use in head injury over time in eight Australian EDs. ⋯ CTB use in head injuries did not increase during the study period, and rates of CTB were less than reported for North America.