Scand J Trauma Resus
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Scand J Trauma Resus · Nov 2011
A consensus-based template for documenting and reporting in physician-staffed pre-hospital services.
Physician-staffed pre-hospital units are employed in many Western emergency medical services (EMS) systems. Although these services usually integrate well within their EMS, little is known about the quality of care delivered, the precision of dispatch, and whether the services deliver a higher quality of care to pre-hospital patients. There is no common data set collected to document the activity of physician pre-hospital activity which makes shared research efforts difficult. The aim of this study was to develop a core data set for routine documentation and reporting in physician-staffed pre-hospital services in Europe. ⋯ Using a modified nominal group technique, we have established a core data set for documenting and reporting in physician-staffed pre-hospital services. We believe that this template could facilitate future studies within the field and facilitate standardised reporting and future shared research efforts in advanced pre-hospital care.
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Scand J Trauma Resus · Nov 2011
Comparative StudyTeam behaviors in emergency care: a qualitative study using behavior analysis of what makes team work.
Teamwork has been suggested as a promising approach to improving care processes in emergency departments (ED). However, for teamwork to yield expected results, implementation must involve behavior changes. The aim of this study is to use behavior analysis to qualitatively examine how teamwork plays out in practice and to understand eventual discrepancies between planned and actual behaviors. ⋯ This study illustrates how behavior analysis can be used to understand discrepancies between planned and observed behaviors. By examining the contextual conditions that may influence behaviors, improvements in implementation strategies can be suggested. Thereby, the adherence to a planned intervention can be improved, and/or revisions of the intervention be suggested.
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Scand J Trauma Resus · Nov 2011
Comparative StudyEffects of a radiation dose reduction strategy for computed tomography in severely injured trauma patients in the emergency department: an observational study.
Severely injured trauma patients are exposed to clinically significant radiation doses from computed tomography (CT) imaging in the emergency department. Moreover, this radiation exposure is associated with an increased risk of cancer. The purpose of this study was to determine some effects of a radiation dose reduction strategy for CT in severely injured trauma patients in the emergency department. ⋯ The radiation dose reduction strategy for CT in severely injured trauma patients effectively decreased the cumulative effective dose of the total CT examinations in the emergency department. But not effectively decreased the number of CT examinations.