Emergency medicine Australasia : EMA
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Emerg Med Australas · Aug 2017
ReviewReview article: Paediatric status epilepticus in the pre-hospital setting: An update.
Paediatric status epilepticus (SE) is a medical emergency and a common critical condition confronting pre-hospital providers. Management in the pre-hospital environment is challenging but considered extremely important as a potentially modifiable factor on outcome. Recent data from multicentre clinical trials, quality observational studies and consensus documents have influenced management in this area, and is important to both pre-hospital providers and emergency physicians. ⋯ The review outlines current definitions and guidelines of SE management, regional variability in pre-hospital protocols within Australasia and aspects of pre-hospital care that could potentially be improved. Contemporary data is required to determine current practice in our setting. It is important that paediatric neurologists, emergency physicians and pre-hospital care providers are all engaged in future endeavours to improve clinical care and knowledge translation efforts for this patient group.
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Emerg Med Australas · Aug 2017
Thoracic electrical bioimpedance versus suprasternal Doppler in emergency care.
There are a number of cardiac output (CO) monitors that could potentially be used in the ED. Two of the most promising methods, thoracic electrical bioimpedance and suprasternal Doppler, have not been directly compared. The aim of this study was to investigate the feasibility of CO monitoring using suprasternal Doppler and bioimpedance in emergency care and compare haemodynamic data obtained from both monitors. ⋯ These two methods of non-invasive cardiac monitoring are not interchangeable. The results suggest that the choice of non-invasive cardiac monitor is important, but the grounds on which to make this choice are not currently clear.
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Emerg Med Australas · Aug 2017
Evaluation of a targeted prescriber education intervention on emergency department discharge oxycodone prescribing.
The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of an educational intervention on ED discharge opioid analgesic (OA) prescribing. ⋯ A brief, one-on-one educational intervention targeting ED OA prescribers was well received by clinicians and associated with improved quality of OA prescribing.
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Emerg Med Australas · Aug 2017
Effects of a hospital-wide intervention on emergency department crowding and quality: A prospective study.
The objective of this study was to determine the impact of a management-supported, multimodal, hospital-wide intervention on ED crowding and quality measures. ⋯ This prospective study shows significant improvement in ED flow without compromise in quality measures from a hospital-wide intervention requiring minimal additional resources. Further research is required on sustainability and patient outcomes beyond the ED.