Emergency medicine Australasia : EMA
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Emerg Med Australas · Feb 2023
ReviewReview article: Acute superior mesenteric vessel ischaemia: A review of clinical practice and biomarkers.
A patient with acute occlusion of the superior mesenteric vessels resulting in superior mesenteric vessel ischaemia (SMVI) who presents to the ED with abdominal pain and unremarkable abdominal examination risks delay in diagnosis and treatment with adverse outcome. A comprehensive literature search was performed, and the evidence was reviewed. To-date, there are no accurate biomarkers of SMVI and so, heightened awareness among ED staff and rapidly actioning diagnostic imaging and surgical referral will help fast-track the patient with SMVI to surgical management. ⋯ Prompt surgical intervention may help reduce mortality and morbidity in SMVI. SMVI is associated with significant mortality and morbidity. With the lack of accurate biomarkers, diagnosis and management is challenging and requires heightened awareness among ED staff for prompt surgical referral and intervention.
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Emerg Med Australas · Feb 2023
The rise and falls of electronic scooters: A Tasmanian perspective on electronic scooter injuries.
Electronic scooter (eScooter) popularity has soared, despite public concerns around injury risk. We aimed to explore the burden of injury from eScooters presenting to Tasmania's major trauma centre during the first 6 months of the Hobart eScooter trial. ⋯ Overall, our 6-month prospective dataset shows that the Hobart eScooter trial has been associated with few major injuries.
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Emerg Med Australas · Feb 2023
CommentImproving the safety of anticoagulation initiation in patients discharged from the emergency department.
To improve the safety of anticoagulation initiation by increasing the proportion of patients reviewed by a pharmacist. ⋯ The real-time electronic intervention improved the number of patients reviewed by a pharmacist. ED pharmacist reviewed patients were more likely to have safe anticoagulation initiation.
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Emerg Med Australas · Feb 2023
Observational StudyClinical Characteristics and Predictors for Hospitalisation During the Initial Phases of the Delta Variant Covid-19 Outbreak Sydney, Australia.
The COVID-19 Delta variant of concern continues to pose significant challenges to health systems globally, with increased transmissibility and different patient populations affected. In Sydney, a virtual model of care was implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and Special Health Accommodation (SHA) was made available for community patients with COVID-19 who could not isolate at home or needed health support. ⋯ Initial symptoms and vital signs were just as predictive for short-term deterioration as age and pre-existing comorbidities and should be included in future risk prediction models for COVID-19. Based on this, we derive a proposed risk prediction score that incorporates these predictors with further validation required.
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Emerg Med Australas · Feb 2023
Calling an ambulance for non-emergency medical situations: Results of a cross-sectional online survey from an Australian nationally representative sample.
To investigate the Australian general public's perception of appropriate medical scenarios that warrants a call to an emergency ambulance. ⋯ Although emergency healthcare system (EHS) capacity not increasing at the same rate as demand is the biggest contributor to EHS burden, non-urgent medical situations for which other low-acuity healthcare pathways may be appropriate does play a small role in adding to the overburdening of the EHS. This present study outlines a series of complaints and demographic characteristics that would benefit from targeted educational interventions that may aid in alleviating ambulance service attendances to low-acuity callouts.