Emergency medicine Australasia : EMA
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Emerg Med Australas · Oct 2013
ReviewReview article: Improving the hospital clinical handover between paramedics and emergency department staff in the deteriorating patient.
Clinical communication and recognising and responding to a deteriorating patient are key current patient safety issues in healthcare. The aim of this literature review is to identify themes associated with aspects of the hospital clinical handover between paramedics and ED staff that can be improved, with a specific focus on the transfer of care of a deteriorating patient. Extensive searches of scholarly literature were conducted using the main medical and nursing electronic databases, including Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Medline and PubMed, during 2011 and again in July 2012. ⋯ A structured handover tool such as ISBAR (a mnemonic covering Introduction, Situation, Background, Assessment and Recommendations) would appear to provide a solution to many of these issues. The recording of vital signs and transfer of these data might be improved with better observation systems incorporating early warning strategies. More effective teamwork could be achieved with further clinical communications training.
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Emerg Med Australas · Oct 2013
Multicenter StudyCurrent status of emergency airway management for elderly patients in Korea: Multicentre study using the Korean Emergency Airway Management Registry.
We report the current status of emergency airway management in elderly Korean patients by analysing a multicentre registry database in order to provide quality emergency airway management to elderly patients. ⋯ Similar success and complication rates were found for emergency airway management in elderly patients compared with patients aged less than 65 years.
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Emerg Med Australas · Oct 2013
Comparative StudyTaking blood cultures from a newly established intravenous catheter in the emergency department does not increase the rate of contaminated blood cultures.
It has been suggested that blood cultures drawn from vascular catheters have a higher false positive rate than those drawn by venepuncture. In the face of institutionally imposed practice change prohibiting obtaining blood cultures from intravenous (i.v.) catheters in the ED, our aim of was to compare the rate of contaminated blood cultures between those taken from recently placed i.v. catheters and those taken by direct venepuncture. ⋯ We found no difference in contaminated blood culture rate between recently placed i.v. catheters and direct venepuncture when infection control procedures were followed.
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Emerg Med Australas · Oct 2013
Observational StudyFireworks injuries in children: A prospective study during the festival of lights.
We studied the epidemiology of paediatric firework-related injury in the urban population of Delhi during the festival of lights (Diwali). ⋯ We recommend parental supervision especially for males, wearing non-synthetic and non-flowing clothes, promoting branded crackers and educational campaigns in schools to curtail the rising trend in firework-related injuries in the paediatric population.
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Emerg Med Australas · Oct 2013
Effect of interprofessional student-led beds on emergency department performance indicators.
The study aims to compare ED performance indicators between patients managed by students in an inter-professional learning (IPL) programme and comparable patients receiving usual ED care. ⋯ There was little difference in performance indicators between patients managed by student teams as part of an IPL programme and a similar group receiving usual ED care.