Emergency medicine Australasia : EMA
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The foundation of much medical research rests on the statistical significance of the P-value, but we have fallen prey to the seductive certainty of significance. Other scientific disciplines work to a different standard. This may partly explain why medical reversal is an increasing phenomenon, whereby new studies (based on the 0.05 standard) overturn previous significant findings. ⋯ Examples from emergency medicine practice illustrate these themes. Study replication needs to be valued as much as discovery. Careful and thoughtful unbiased thinking about the results we do have is undervalued.
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Emerg Med Australas · Apr 2017
Predictors and outcomes of acute pancreatitis in critically ill patients presenting to the emergency department of a tertiary referral centre in Australia.
To provide a current review of the clinical characteristics, predictors and outcomes in critically ill patients presenting to the ED with acute pancreatitis and subsequently admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) of a tertiary referral centre in Australia. ⋯ Severe acute pancreatitis is associated with high mortality. Aetiology and comorbidity did not predict adverse outcomes in this population. BISAP score is non-inferior to APACHE II score as a prognostic tool in critically ill patients with acute pancreatitis and could be used to triage admission. Evidence of persistent organ dysfunction and requirements for organ support reliably identify patients at high-risk of death.