Emergency medicine Australasia : EMA
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Emerg Med Australas · Feb 2004
Compliance with advice and appropriateness of emergency presentation following contact with the HealthDirect telephone triage service.
Evaluation of compliance with advice and appropriateness of emergency presentation following contact with a telephone triage service (HealthDirect). ⋯ HealthDirect contacts were of similar appropriateness to non-HealthDirect presenters and appear to attend the ED independent of HealthDirect advice. HealthDirect has a limited capacity to influence ED utilization or workload.
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Emerg Med Australas · Feb 2004
Does the presence of an emergency physician improve access based quality indicators in a rural emergency department?
To assess the effect that the presence of an emergency physician in the ED has on the access indicators of the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards. ⋯ There is some evidence that the presence of an emergency physician improves performance within this group of access based indicators within a rural ED, however, the effect seen here is small. More studies are needed on this topic and also on the development of quality indicators for rural ED.
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This article presents a summary of the common foreign bodies (FB) and a practical approach to diagnosis and management. Removal of FB requires good lighting, a cooperative or fully restrained patient and a gentle approach by the clinician. An accurate diagnosis of the FB should be made prior to attempts to remove it and most, if not all FB could be safely removed the following day under better lighting conditions, sedation or anaesthesia in a fasted patient by a more senior clinician.
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This paper highlights critical aspects of examination, diagnosis and early management of the maxillofacial trauma patient.
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Emerg Med Australas · Feb 2004
Clinical effects of exposure to the White-stemmed gum moth (Chelepteryx collesi).
The White-stemmed gum moth (Chelepteryx collesi) can be found in eastern Australia. The clinical effects of injuries caused by its many spine-like hairs are poorly defined and concern about the numerous hairs that remain embedded following contact with the cocoon have led to heroic means of removal. ⋯ The clinical effects of the White-stemmed gum moth were minor with local pain. Although hairs remained in all cases, they caused no problems. Complete removal of hairs is neither possible nor necessary, and painful and invasive methods should be avoided.