European journal of emergency medicine : official journal of the European Society for Emergency Medicine
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Developing a decision support system for geriatric patients in prehospital care.
To develop a feasible and safe prehospital decision support system (DSS) for the emergency medical services (EMS), facilitating safe steering of geriatric patients to an optimal level of healthcare. ⋯ Using this prehospital DSS - developed for 11 medical conditions - the Swedish prehospital nurse can safely decide on the level of healthcare to which an elderly patient can be steered.
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It is well known that adherence to hygiene routines leads to increased quality of care and safety for patients and personnel in hospitals. However, there have been few studies describing hygiene in ambulances, despite the fact that many patients receive advanced medical care and treatment from ambulance services before arriving at an emergency department. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to describe the adherence of ambulance personnel to hygiene routines in the ambulances. ⋯ The ambulance personnel were found to have relatively good adherence to some hygiene routines, but not all. The adherence by ambulance personnel to all of the seven observed variables was correct in only 3% of the assignments.
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Our main aim was to describe the path of patients seen in our emergency department (ED) and either admitted or transferred and to compare the characteristics of patients hospitalized in our hospital with those of transferred patients. Our secondary aim was to compare the receipts linked to patient hospital stays. ⋯ Our results show that patients requiring shorter care are transferred, whereas more severe patients are hospitalized on site. Hospitals will need solutions to optimize their receipts while fulfilling their public missions such as continuity of care.
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To investigate the incidence and risk factors for trauma-induced coagulopathy (TIC) and the impact of TIC on outcomes of patients with severe trauma admitted to an emergency intensive care unit. ⋯ The incidence of TIC is particularly high among patients with severe trauma. TIC is associated with increased ISS, brain injury, shock and hypothermia, and mortality.