Can J Emerg Med
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Podcasts are increasingly being used for medical education. A deeper understanding of usage patterns would inform both producers and researchers of medical podcasts. We aimed to determine how and why podcasts are used by emergency medicine and critical care clinicians. ⋯ An international cohort of emergency clinicians use medical podcasts predominantly for learning. Their listening habits (rarely employing active learning strategies and frequently performing concurrent tasks) may not support this goal. Further exploration of the impact of these activities on learning from podcasts is warranted.
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Resource allocation planning for emergency medical services (EMS) systems determines appropriate resources including what paramedic qualification and how rapidly to respond to patients for optimal outcomes. The British Columbia Emergency Health Services implemented a revised response plan in 2013. ⋯ Comprehensive, evidence-informed reconstruction of a provincial EMS resource allocation plan is feasible. Despite change in crew level response and resource allocation, there was significant decrease in 24-hour mortality in this pan-provincial population-based cohort.
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The 2016 Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale (CTAS) updates introduced frailty screening within triage to more accurately code frail patients who may deteriorate waiting for care. The relationship between triage acuity and frailty is not well understood, but may help inform which supplemental geriatric assessments are beneficial to support care in the emergency department (ED). Our objectives were to investigate the relationship between triage acuity and frailty, and to compare their associations with a series of patient outcomes. ⋯ Our findings demonstrate that frailty and triage acuity are independent but complementary measures. EDs may benefit from comprehensive frailty screening post-triage, as frailty and its associated geriatric syndromes drive outcomes separate from traditional measures of acuity.
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Four percent of ST-elevation myocardial infarctions (STEMIs) are complicated by an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). Research has shown that shorter time to initial defibrillation in patients with ventricular fibrillation/tachycardia (VF/VT) arrests increases favourable neurologic survival. The purpose of this study is to determine whether routine application of defibrillation pads in patients with prehospital STEMI decreases the time to initial defibrillation in those who suffer OHCA. ⋯ Routine application of defibrillation pads in STEMI patients who suffer OHCA decreases time to initial defibrillation, which has previously been demonstrated to increase favourable neurologic survival.