Emergency medicine Australasia : EMA
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Emerg Med Australas · Dec 2018
ReviewReview article: Investigations and the pregnant woman in the emergency department - part 2: Point-of-care ultrasound, electrocardiography, respiratory function tests and radiology.
Accurate assessment of the pregnant patient in the ED depends on knowledge of physiological changes in pregnancy, and how these changes may impact on pathology tests, appearance on point-of-care ultrasound, electrocardiography and respiratory function tests. In addition, the emergency physician needs to be cognisant of disorders that are unique to or more common during pregnancy. Part 2 of this review addresses the role of point-of-care ultrasound in pregnancy, physiological changes that may affect interpretation of point-of-care ultrasound, changes in electrocardiography and respiratory function tests, and the safety of radiological procedures in the pregnant patient. Part 1 addressed potential deviations in laboratory investigation reference intervals resulting from physiological alterations in pregnancy and the important causes of abnormal laboratory results in pregnancy.
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Emerg Med Australas · Dec 2018
Management of post-partum haemorrhage in the Timor Leste National Ambulance Service.
Timor Leste has one of the highest maternal death rates in the world at 215 per 100 000 live births.1 Post-partum haemorrhage (PPH) accounts for 27% of maternal deaths globally. Annually the Timor Leste National Ambulance Service (TLNAS) attends over 20 000 cases, of which 2% are diagnosed with PPH. The objective of this study was to evaluate prehospital care of PPH patients transported by the TLNAS. ⋯ This research has shown that paramedics are not consistently using available clinical interventions.
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Emerg Med Australas · Dec 2018
Testing a new form to document 'Goals-of-Care' discussions regarding plans for end-of-life care for patients in an Australian emergency department.
There is limited literature to inform the content and format of Goals-of-Care forms, for use by doctors when they are undertaking these important conversations. ⋯ Having a Goals-of-Care form in emergency medicine is supported; the ideal contents of the form was not determined.