European journal of emergency medicine : official journal of the European Society for Emergency Medicine
-
Screening studies of healthy volunteers have determined that coeliac disease affects 1% of the European population. Despite this the majority of cases are unrecognized. ⋯ This review provides an update of the published data on coeliac disease. We discuss the relationship between coeliac disease and abdominal pain and ways in which this may change emergency physicians practice.
-
Field trauma triage systems currently used by emergency responders at mass casualty incidents and disasters do not adequately account for the possibility of contamination of patients with chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear material. Following a discussion of background issues regarding mass casualty triage schemes, this paper proposes chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear-compatible trauma triage algorithms, based on a review of the literature and the input of recognized content experts. ⋯ This template is then modified for use in chemical, biological, and radiation/nuclear situations in which the exposed or contaminated victims have also sustained conventional trauma. The proposed algorithms will need further refinement and testing.