Emergency medicine Australasia : EMA
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Emerg Med Australas · Oct 2018
Observational StudyIncidence and outcomes of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: A New Zealand perspective.
To describe the incidence and outcomes from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) in the New Zealand population served by the St John Ambulance Service. ⋯ This is the first study to describe the epidemiology and outcomes of OHCA in New Zealand. Our findings provide important baseline data to monitor temporal trends, investigate the impact of changes in the management of OHCA and demonstrate that there are opportunities for improvement across the system of care.
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Emerg Med Australas · Oct 2018
Evaluation of the trauma triage accuracy in a Level 1 Australian trauma centre.
To assess the rate of undertriage of major trauma patients and to assess factors contributing to undertriage in a modern Australian Level 1 trauma centre. ⋯ In this cohort of major trauma, a 6.1% undertriage performance of the triage tool was observed. Sub-analysis of the data showed that elderly patients were more likely to be undertriaged.
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Emerg Med Australas · Oct 2018
Observational StudyOut-of-hospital arrests attending an Australian tertiary paediatric emergency department over 13 years: An observational study.
In paediatric cardiopulmonary arrest, International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR) states, 'there are no simple guidelines to determine when resuscitative efforts become futile'. Considerations to assist this decision-making include cause of arrest, pre-existing medical conditions, age, site of arrest, duration of untreated cardiopulmonary arrest, witnessed arrest and presence of shockable rhythm. Outcomes are poor in out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA), particularly for infants. This single-centre observational study describes the characteristics and outcomes of the subgroup of children presenting to our hospital's ED following OHCA still receiving cardiac compressions, to assist development of guidelines for future resuscitation efforts in our ED, particularly for cessation of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). ⋯ Children presenting to ED still receiving cardiac compressions following OHCA had a universally poor outcome, regardless of age and underlying cause. This implies resuscitative efforts could be discontinued earlier in this subgroup. A national, multicentre study is needed to determine if this finding is reproducible with a larger population.