European journal of emergency medicine : official journal of the European Society for Emergency Medicine
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We aimed to evaluate the impact of the same-day GPs' strike and terrorist attacks on a call centre's activity. ⋯ The GPs' strike and the terrorist attacks did not impact our call centre's activity in the same manner. The strike increased the number of PMFs without increasing the number of calls received. The attacks increased the number of calls received and MICU dispatched without increasing the number of PMFs. Many markers are at the disposal of call centres to evaluate the impact of healthcare events.
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In the emergency department (ED), lactate is routinely used for risk stratification. Whether venous or arterial lactate measured on blood gas is interchangeable is not known. We hypothesized that venous lactate can be used instead of arterial lactate for the evaluation of acute patients in the ED. ⋯ Venous and arterial lactates do not agree well, and there is a high misclassification rate. Venous lactate does not appear to be interchangeable with arterial sampling.
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To determine what the effects of introduction of copayments for self-referred emergency department (ED) visits would be in the Netherlands and at what amount patients would turn to a GP before visiting an ED. ⋯ With a copayment of &OV0556;100, 47% of the SRPs would choose to visit their GP instead of the ED. There was no specific copayment level that resulted in reducing mainly inappropriate ED visits.