Emergency medicine Australasia : EMA
-
Emerg Med Australas · Apr 2021
Is waiver of consent for the use of health information for research acceptable to emergency department patients?
Some emergency medicine research, especially retrospective studies using medical records review, rely on waiver of consent for use of personal health information (PHI) contained in clinical records. This is a secondary use of PHI and waiver of consent raises ethical, legal and practical issues. ⋯ In part, this involves a balancing of the public interest versus the risk to privacy and an evaluation of whether subjects would, mostly likely, have agreed to the use of their PHI had they been asked. To date, there are no robust data about whether use of PHI without consent for research would be acceptable to people who attend Australasian EDs for care.
-
Emerg Med Australas · Apr 2021
Multicenter StudyEpidemiology and clinical features of emergency department patients with suspected COVID-19: Insights from Australia's 'second wave' (COVED-4).
The aim of the present study was to describe the epidemiology and clinical features of patients presenting to the ED with suspected and confirmed COVID-19 during Australia's 'second wave'. ⋯ In this prospective multi-site study during Australia's 'second wave', a substantial proportion of ED presentations required SARS-CoV-2 testing and isolation. Presence of SARS-CoV-2 on nasopharyngeal swab was associated with an increase in the odds of death and mechanical ventilation in hospital.
-
Emerg Med Australas · Apr 2021
To intubate or not to intubate? Predictors of inhalation injury in burn-injured patients before arrival at the burn centre.
Inhalation injury occurs in approximately 10-20% of burn patients and is associated with increased mortality. There is no clear method of identifying patients at risk of inhalation injury or requiring intubation in the pre-hospital setting. Our objective was to identify pre-burn centre factors associated with inhalation injury confirmed on bronchoscopy, and to develop a prognostic model for inhalation injury. ⋯ A model to predict inhalation injury in burn-injured patients was developed with excellent discrimination. This model requires prospective testing but could form an integral part of clinician decision-making.