Emergency medicine Australasia : EMA
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Emerg Med Australas · Oct 2022
Multicenter Study Observational StudyPatients treated for acute headache with intranasal droperidol spend less time in the emergency department: A retrospective observational study.
Headache is a common presenting complaint to the ED. Using time from the first provider to discharge as a surrogate for effectiveness, we aimed to determine if intranasal (IN) droperidol is as beneficial as usual treatment for acute headache in the ED. ⋯ IN droperidol reduced LOS in the ED. There are potential cost savings of this effective treatment via this novel route. A prospective multi-centre study of the use of IN droperidol for the treatment of acute headache in the ED is recommended.
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Emerg Med Australas · Oct 2022
Observational StudyStatus Epilepticus Australasian Registry for Children: A pilot prospective, observational, cohort study of paediatric status epilepticus.
Paediatric status epilepticus (SE) has potential for long-term sequelae. Existing data demonstrate delays to aspects of care. The objective of the present study was to examine the feasibility of collecting data on children with paediatric SE and describe current management strategies in pre-hospital and in-hospital settings. ⋯ In children presenting with SE in Australia medical management differed from previous reports, with midazolam as the preferred benzodiazepine, and levetiracetam replacing phenytoin as the preferred second-line agent. This pilot study indicates the feasibility of a paediatric SE registry and its utility to understand and optimise practice.
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Emerg Med Australas · Oct 2022
Observational StudyEmergency department triage and COVID-19: Performance of the Interagency Integrated Triage Tool during a pandemic surge in Papua New Guinea.
To determine the sensitivity of the Interagency Integrated Triage Tool to identify severe and critical illness among adult patients with COVID-19. ⋯ In a resource-constrained context, the tool demonstrated reasonable sensitivity to detect severe and critical COVID-19, comparable with its reported performance for other urgent conditions.
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Emerg Med Australas · Oct 2022
Documentation of paediatric head injuries in a mixed metropolitan emergency department.
Head injuries are a common presentation of children to Australian EDs. Healthcare documentation is an important tool for enhancing patient care. In our study, we aimed to assess the adequacy of paediatric head injury documentation in a mixed ED. ⋯ The largest gaps in the documentation of paediatric head injuries were BP and paediatric GCS in infants. Future audits and educational strategies should focus on targeting clinically relevant items that are predictive of serious outcomes.
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Emerg Med Australas · Oct 2022
Observational StudyForearmed is forewarned: A prospective intervention observational time-series study of patient empowerment for ultrasound-guided peripheral intravenous access.
Ultrasound (US) is a valuable adjunct to improve the success rates of difficult peripheral intravenous cannula (PIVC) insertions but is usually clinician initiated. The present study assessed for any change in clinician practice resulting from interventions aimed at empowering patients to advocate for early use of US if they self-identified as having difficult PIVC access. ⋯ This is the first prospective study to assess the effect of various interventions to empower patients to self-identify as having difficult PIVC access and advocate for the use of US-guidance. The present study was indeterminate: no intervention tested in the present study noticeably influenced clinical practice, potentially attributable to the study design and confounding factors. This innovative study serves as a pilot for future research into patient empowerment, which is currently lacking in the literature.