Scand J Trauma Resus
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An emergency cricothyrotomy is the last-resort in most airway management protocols and is performed when it is not possible to intubate or ventilate a patient. This situation can rapidly prove fatal, making it important to identify the best method to establish a secure airway. We conducted a systematic review to identify whether there exists superiority between available commercial kits versus traditional surgical and needle techniques. ⋯ The large majority of the studies were too small to demonstrate statistically significant differences, and the limited available evidence was of low or very low quality. That none of the techniques in these studies demonstrated better results than the others does not necessarily indicate that each is equally good, and these conclusions will likely change as new evidence becomes available.
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Scand J Trauma Resus · May 2013
Comparative StudyImpact of multiple injuries on functional and neurological outcomes of patients with spinal cord injury.
The effects of multiple injuries on the neurological and functional outcomes of patients with traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) are debated-some groups have shown that subjects with multiple injuries have the same neurological and functional outcomes of those without them, whereas others have found that SCI patients with associated traumatic brain injury have worse functional status at admission and discharge and longer rehabilitation stays than patients without brain injury. Thus, the aim of this study was to compare the outcomes of SCI subjects with or without multiple injuries. ⋯ Multiple injuries do not affect the neurological or rehabilitative prognosis of spinal cord injuries. At discharge, patients with spinal cord injuries with and without multiple injuries achieved similar results with regard to neurological and functional improvement. Some groups of patients with multiple injuries had a longer length of stay.
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Scand J Trauma Resus · May 2013
Time delays and capability of elderly to activate speaker function for continuous telephone CPR.
Telephone-CPR (T-CPR) can increase rate of bystander CPR as well as CPR quality. Instructions for T-CPR were developed when most callers used a land line. Telephones today are often wireless and can be brought to the patient. They often have speaker function which further allows the rescuer to receive instructions while performing CPR.We wanted to measure adult lay people's ability to activate the speaker function on their own mobile phone. ⋯ One-third of the elderly could activate speaker function quickly, and two-third either used a long time or could not activate the function.
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Scand J Trauma Resus · May 2013
Observational StudyPrevalence and factors correlating with hyperoxia exposure following cardiac arrest -- an observational single centre study.
Arterial hyperoxia during care in the intensive care unit (ICU) has been found to correlate with mortality after cardiac arrest (CA). We examined the prevalence of hyperoxia following CA including pre-ICU values and studied differences between those exposed and those not exposed to define predictors of exposure. ⋯ Hyperoxia exposure was more common than previously reported and occurred more frequently in association with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, longer times to ROSC and delays to ICU admission.