Scand J Trauma Resus
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Scand J Trauma Resus · Jan 2010
The epidemiology of medical emergency contacts outside hospitals in Norway--a prospective population based study.
There is a lack of epidemiological knowledge on medical emergencies outside hospitals in Norway. The aim of the present study was to obtain representative data on the epidemiology of medical emergencies classified as "red responses" in Norway. ⋯ The results show that emergency medicine based on 816 000 Norwegians mainly consists of medical problems, where the majority of the patients have a non-life-threatening situation. More focus on the emergency system outside hospitals, including triage and dispatch, and how to best deal with "everyday" emergency problems is needed to secure knowledge based decisions for the future organization of the emergency system.
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Scand J Trauma Resus · Jan 2010
Comparative StudyISS mapped from ICD-9-CM by a novel freeware versus traditional coding: a comparative study.
Injury severity measures are based either on the Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) or the International Classification of diseases (ICD). The latter is more convenient because routinely collected by clinicians for administrative reasons. To exploit this advantage, a proprietary program that maps ICD-9-CM into AIS codes has been used for many years. Recently, a program called ICDPIC trauma and developed in the USA has become available free of charge for registered STATA users. We compared the ICDPIC calculated Injury Severity Score (ISS) with the one from direct, prospective AIS coding by expert trauma registrars (dAIS). ⋯ Despite its great potential convenience, ICPIC-ISS agreed poorly with its conventionally calculated counterpart. Its discriminative power for survival was also significantly lower. Incomplete ICD-9-CM coding was a main cause of these findings. Because this quality of coding is standard in Italy and probably in other European countries, its effects on the performances of other trauma scores based on ICD administrative data deserve further research. Mapping ICD-9-CM code 862.8 to AIS of 6 is an overestimation.
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Scand J Trauma Resus · Jan 2010
Extracorporeal life support for management of refractory cardiac or respiratory failure: initial experience in a tertiary centre.
Extracorporeal Life Support (ECLS) and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) have been indicated as treatment for acute respiratory and/or cardiac failure. Here we describe our first year experience of in-hospital ECLS activity, the operative algorithm and the protocol for centralization of adult patients from district hospitals. ⋯ In our centre, an ECLS Service was instituted over a relatively limited period of time. A strict collaboration between different specialists can be regarded as a key feature to efficiently implement the process.
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Scand J Trauma Resus · Jan 2010
Scenario based outdoor simulation in pre-hospital trauma care using a simple mannequin model.
We describe a system of scenario-based training using simple mannequins under realistic circumstances for the training of pre-hospital care providers. ⋯ The method described is a low technology, low cost alternative to high technology simulation which may provide a useful adjunct to delivering effective training when properly prepared and delivered. We find this useful for both induction and regular training of pre-hospital trauma care providers.
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Scand J Trauma Resus · Jan 2010
End-tidal carbon dioxide monitoring during bag valve ventilation: the use of a new portable device.
For healthcare providers in the prehospital setting, bag-valve mask (BVM) ventilation could be as efficacious and safe as endotracheal intubation. To facilitate the evaluation of efficacious ventilation, capnographs have been further developed into small and convenient devices able to provide end- tidal carbon dioxide (ETCO2). The aim of this study was to investigate whether a new portable device (EMMA™) attached to a ventilation mask would provide ETCO2 values accurate enough to confirm proper BVM ventilation. ⋯ The portable device, EMMA™ is suitable for determining carbon dioxide in expired air (kPa) as compared to simultaneous samples of PvCO2. It could therefore, be a supportive tool to asses the BVM ventilation in the demanding prehospital and emergency setting.