Emergency medicine Australasia : EMA
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Emerg Med Australas · Aug 2019
ReviewReview article: Goals-of-care discussions for adult patients nearing end of life in emergency departments: A systematic review.
Goals-of-care discussions at end-of-life are associated with increased patient satisfaction and reduced treatment burdens, reduced family and healthcare worker distress and healthcare costs, while achieving equal life-expectancy. It is unclear how goals-of-care discussions should occur. The objective of the study was to determine which patients could benefit, requirements, content, documentation, and harms and benefits of emergency medicine goals-of-care discussions. ⋯ Most studies were of moderate quality only, outcomes were not standardised and sample sizes were small. 'Goals-of-care' is used inconsistently across the literature. This is the first systematic review regarding goals-of-care discussions in EDs. Further research is needed on all aspects of these conversations.
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Emerg Med Australas · Aug 2019
Homeless status documentation at a metropolitan hospital emergency department.
This study compared the prevalence of homelessness in consecutive patients presenting to a metropolitan hospital ED measured via a prospective housing screen with the prevalence of homelessness determined via retrospective audit of hospital data. Factors that altered the odds of patients being homeless and service outcomes that differed were examined for screened patients. ⋯ Hospital ED administrative data substantially under-recognises the prevalence of homelessness in presenting patients. Standardised use of brief housing screens could improve identification of and provision of support to this often highly vulnerable population.
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Emerg Med Australas · Aug 2019
Multicenter StudyPaediatric intentional head injuries in the emergency department: A multicentre prospective cohort study.
Although there is a large body of research on head injury (HI) inflicted by caregivers in young children, little is known about intentional HI in older children and inflicted HI by perpetrators other than carers. Therefore, we set out to describe epidemiology, demographics and severity of intentional HIs in childhood. ⋯ Intentional HI is infrequent in children. The most frequently identified perpetrators are caregivers and peers. Caregiver injuries are particularly severe.