Emergency medicine Australasia : EMA
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Emerg Med Australas · Aug 2009
Comparative StudyFactors influencing consistency of triage using the Australasian Triage Scale: implications for guideline development.
To examine the influence of the nurse, the type of patient presentation and the level of hospital service on consistency of triage using the Australasian Triage Scale. ⋯ We identified significant problems with the consistency of triage for mental health and pregnancy presentations. Further research is needed to improve the guidelines on the implementation of the Australasian Triage Scale for these populations.
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Emerg Med Australas · Aug 2009
Comparative StudyFactors influencing rural versus metropolitan work choices for emergency physicians.
To survey Fellows of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (FACEM) on how a range of factors influenced their decision to accept their most recent position. To compare this information between rural and metropolitan FACEM. ⋯ The influence of different types of factors appears to differ between rural and metropolitan FACEM and this information might assist in the formulation of strategies aimed at increasing the rural workforce.
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Emerg Med Australas · Aug 2009
Clinical TrialConfirmation of endotracheal intubation by combined ultrasonographic methods in the Emergency Department.
The objective of the present study was to investigate whether the combined use of transcricothyroid membrane ultrasonography and ultrasonographic evaluation for pleural sliding is useful for verifying endotracheal intubation in the ED. ⋯ The combination of transcricothyroid membrane ultrasonography and ultrasonographic lung-sliding evaluation could be useful in confirming endotracheal intubation in the ED.
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Emerg Med Australas · Aug 2009
Emergency Department access block occupancy predicts delay to surgery in patients with fractured neck of femur.
The present study aimed to identify any relationship between existing access block occupancy (ABO) at the time of patient presentation and delay to definitive procedure. ⋯ The number of access block patients at the time of arrival directly predicts delay to operation in this setting. This suggests that access block occupancy is a marker of hospital dysfunction.
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Emerg Med Australas · Aug 2009
Validation of a point of care troponin assay in real life Emergency Department conditions.
To validate the accuracy of a Point of care (POC) troponin device (Abbott i-Stat) in real life ED conditions. ⋯ The i-Stat POC device produces similar results in the hands of experienced and occasional operators in ED. There is good agreement between the POC and laboratory at levels used to diagnose infarction by older, more specific criteria. When compared using new lower cut-offs, the i-Stat had poor sensitivity.