Emergency medicine Australasia : EMA
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Emerg Med Australas · Feb 2011
Case ReportsAcute compartment syndrome of the thigh following minor trauma in a patient on dual anti-platelet therapy.
Acute compartment syndrome of the thigh is a rare surgical emergency. It is usually associated with high energy trauma and concomitant femoral fracture. ⋯ Background anti-platelet therapy and hospital prescribed anticoagulants were likely contributors to this pathology. We describe these factors and discuss the issues associated with assessment of minor trauma in the anti-coagulated patient.
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Emerg Med Australas · Feb 2011
Scapular manipulation for reduction of anterior shoulder dislocation without analgesia: results of a prospective study.
To the best of knowledge, this was the first study of scapular manipulation technique (SMT) in Asia. We conducted this prospective study to report our experiences of reducing anterior shoulder dislocation by SMT without analgesia in a large study group in Iran. ⋯ The results of our study showed that SMT even without medication is a safe, rapid and relatively painless technique in reducing anterior shoulder dislocation in the ED that might reduce medical resource utilization and can be cost-effective.
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Emerg Med Australas · Feb 2011
Comparative StudyValidation of the Luscombe weight formula for estimating children's weight.
Several paediatric weight estimation methods have been described for use when direct weight measurement is not possible. A new age-based weight estimation method has recently been proposed. The Luscombe formula, applicable to children aged 1-10 years, is calculated as (3 × age in years) + 7. Our objective was to externally validate this formula using an existing database. ⋯ The Luscombe formula is among the more accurate age-based weight estimation formulae. When more accurate methods (e.g. parental estimation or the Broselow tape) are not available, it is an acceptable option for estimating children's weight.
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Emerg Med Australas · Feb 2011
Emergency department knowledge management in the age of Web 2.0: evaluation of a new concept.
The objective of the present study was to describe the implementation of an organizational learning model and evaluate the effectiveness and usability of an application used to facilitate it in an ED setting. ⋯ We demonstrate the implementation of an organizational learning model based on independent online sites networking together within an organization. This appears to be both usable and acceptable to staff members working in a large ED as a means of knowledge management.