Journal of telemedicine and telecare
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We evaluated the use of tele-education to provide an induction programme for accident and emergency senior house officers (SHOs) in three remote locations, and compared their performance with that of SHOs receiving the same induction programme in the conventional manner. Both groups of doctors performed similarly in a pre-course multiple-choice question (MCQ) paper, and showed comparable improvement following the induction programme lectures. ⋯ Tele-education might allow doctors based in peripheral units similar access to high-quality teaching to that enjoyed by those in larger hospitals. Further experience and evaluation are required to optimize this method of education delivery.
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We studied pre-hospital notification and the quality of data received from ambulance crews transporting seriously ill or injured patients to an accident and emergency department. During a two-month study period, pre-hospital notification was received for 54 patients. However, the department was notified about only 25 of 62 patients (40%) who, on arrival by ambulance, were triaged as emergencies. Despite developing a data protocol for emergency pre-hospital communication and being equipped to receive emergency ambulance calls directly, many such patients still arrived either unannounced or described in insufficient detail to allow appropriate preparations to be made for them.