Emergency medicine Australasia : EMA
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Emerg Med Australas · Oct 2019
Description and cost-analysis of emergency department attendances for hand and wrist injuries.
Injuries to the hand and wrist are estimated to account for between 10% and 30% of all ED presentations. The economic burden placed on the healthcare system can be extensive and rise sharply with increase in injury severity. ⋯ Acute hand and wrist injuries contribute to a significant volume of ED presentations each year in one Australian public health network leading to significant expenditure and health resources. Further research into how to best utilise resources and reduce avoidable injuries should be priority areas to reduce the cost of these injuries to the healthcare system and society.
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Emerg Med Australas · Oct 2019
Australian private emergency departments can assist ambulance services by taking public emergency patients during surge and disasters.
We describe a novel ambulance diversion programme, piloted in Victoria. This article discusses creating increased emergency capacity during surge or disasters by utilising private EDs, tested during a recent thunderstorm asthma disaster and an influenza epidemic. ⋯ It is feasible to create surge capacity in private EDs for public ambulance patients. Other states could consider this option to help manage health disasters.
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Emerg Med Australas · Oct 2019
Observational StudySub-optimal treatment of paediatric migraine in an emergency department: An observational study.
To describe treatment of children presenting to an Australian ED with a final ED diagnosis of migraine. ⋯ Treatment of migraine in children was not consistent with the available evidence regarding agents' relative effectiveness. The use of opiates is concerningly high.
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Emerg Med Australas · Oct 2019
Diagnoses, damned diagnoses and statistics: Dealing with disparate diagnostic coding systems within the New South Wales Emergency Department Data Collection.
The aims of the present study were to describe the distribution of Systematised Nomenclature of Medicine - Clinical Terms (SNOMED-CT) codes used in the current New South Wales Emergency Department Data Collection (NSW EDDC) and classify duplicate and redundant terms into clinically meaningful sub-groups for future analyses. ⋯ The use of SNOMED-CT in the NSW EDDC has resulted in substantial use of non-specific, duplicate and redundant codes, limiting the capacity of the NSW EDDC to be used for effective data analysis.
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Emerg Med Australas · Oct 2019
Animal-vehicle collisions in Victoria, Australia: An under-recognised cause of road traffic crashes.
Non-fatal injuries sustained from animal-vehicle collisions are a globally under-recognised road safety issue, with limited data on these crash types. The present study aimed to quantify the number and causes of major trauma events resulting from animal-vehicle collisions. ⋯ Development of systematic recording methods of animal-vehicle collisions will improve reporting of these crash types to assist future studies in implementing effective countermeasures.