Can J Emerg Med
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Multicenter Study
Pain management of acute appendicitis in Canadian pediatric emergency departments.
Children with suspected appendicitis are at risk for suboptimal pain management. We sought to describe pain management patterns for suspected appendicitis across Canadian pediatric emergency departments (PEDs). ⋯ Suboptimal and delayed analgesia remains a significant issue for children with suspected appendicitis in Canadian PEDs. This suggests a role for multidimensional knowledge translation interventions and care protocols to improve timely access to analgesia.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Real-time visual feedback during training improves laypersons' CPR quality: a randomized controlled manikin study.
The chances of surviving an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest depend on early and high-quality cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Our aim is to verify whether the use of feedback devices during laypersons' CPR training improves chest compression quality. ⋯ Real-time visual feedback improves laypersons' CPR quality, and we suggest its use in every BLS/AED course for laypersons because it can help achieve the goals emphasized by the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation recommendations.
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In South Korea, injury is a public health problem due to its high incidence and high mortality. To improve emergency medical systems, the government announced plans to increase the emergency medical resources for each region. This study investigated the association between regional emergency medical resources and mortality during hospitalization in severely injured inpatients. ⋯ Our findings suggest that regional emergency medical resources are associated with a lower risk of mortality during hospitalization in severely injured patients. Thus, health care policymakers need to determine the proper distribution of emergency medical resources for each region and the function of emergency departments to provide a superior quality of emergency medical services to patients.
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Observational Study
A comprehensive regional clinical and educational ECPR protocol decreases time to ECMO in patients with refractory out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.
Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation within CPR (ECPR) may improve survival for refractory out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). We developed a prehospital, emergency department (ED), and hospital-based clinical and educational protocol to improve the key variable of time-to-ECPR (TTE). ⋯ An organized clinical and educational protocol to initiate ECPR for patients with OHCA is feasible and significantly reduces the key benchmark of time-to-ECPR flows.
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Tetanus is a life-threatening clinical syndrome that commonly presents with muscular spasms, rigidity, and autonomic instability. It is considered rare in industrialized countries, and tetanus occurring secondary to dental abscesses, procedures, or infections has been infrequently reported. We describe the case of a patient inadequately immunized for tetanus, who presented to the emergency department with muscular spasms, rigidity, and autonomic instability in the setting of an odontogenic infection. A clinical diagnosis of tetanus was made and subsequently managed successfully.