Annals of emergency medicine
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Erroneous time documentation of emergency treatment caused by the variation in the accuracy of timepieces has profound medical, medicolegal, and research consequences. The purpose of this study was to confirm the variation of critical timepiece settings in an urban emergency care system noted in previous studies and to implement and monitor the results of a prospective program to improve time synchronization. ⋯ Emergency medical timepieces are often inaccurate, making it difficult to reconstruct events for medical, medicolegal, or research purposes. Community synchronization of timepieces to the atomic clock can reduce the problem significantly, but the effects of a one-time attempted synchronization event are short-lived. [Ornato JP, Doctor ML, Harbour LF, Peberdy MA, Overton J, Racht EM, Zauhar WG, Smith AP, Ryan KA: Synchronization of time-pieces to the atomic clock in an urban emergency medical services system. Ann Emerg Med April 1998;31:483-487.].
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To determine whether an intensive educational campaign of emergency department personnel on the organ donor and procurement process would result in both increased organ donor referrals and organs procured. ⋯ Emergency physicians are in a unique position as first caregivers to interact with both potential donors and their families. With intensive education of ED staff, proper identification and referral, as well as timely intervention by organ procurement representatives, the consent and donation rate of organs for transplantation can be increased and maintained.
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Erroneous time documentation of emergency treatment caused by the variation in the accuracy of timepieces has profound medical, medicolegal, and research consequences. The purpose of this study was to confirm the variation of critical timepiece settings in an urban emergency care system noted in previous studies and to implement and monitor the results of a prospective program to improve time synchronization. ⋯ Emergency medical timepieces are often inaccurate, making it difficult to reconstruct events for medical, medicolegal, or research purposes. Community synchronization of timepieces to the atomic clock can reduce the problem significantly, but the effects of a one-time attempted synchronization event are short-lived.
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[National Highway Traffic Safety Administration: 1996 Motor vehicle occupant safety survey. Ann Emerg Med April 1998;31:518-519.].
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To evaluate the associations between selected socioeconomic risk factors and acute injury from domestic violence against women. ⋯ Of the socioeconomic variables examined in this preliminary study, a history of alcohol abuse by the male partner, as reported by the female partner, was the strongest predictor for acute injury from domestic violence. A large-scale, multicenter, ED-based study is needed to clarify the relation between alcohol abuse, other socioeconomic factors, and acute physical assaults against women by their intimate male partners.