Scot Med J
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Ethylene glycol is recognised as a potentially lethal poison if ingested. Approximately 100 mls may be fatal in a 70 kg adult. ⋯ In the absence of these symptoms, metabolic acidosis or ethylene glycol concentration more than 8 mmol/l a single loading dose of ethanol and observation were the recommended course of management until recently. We report a case of a patient who remained relatively asymptomatic for almost 24 hours but then developed clinical symptoms with marked metabolic acidosis and renal impairment requiring intensive treatment including haemodialysis.
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Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is a common inflammatory arthritis' with pain and loss of function among its most disabling symptoms. These are mostly secondary to inflammation or mechanical damage to the joints. However it is also important to consider disease complications as a cause of symptoms, especially when the response to treatment is suboptimal. We report an RA patient whose symptoms were resistant to standard therapy, and were actually due to peripheral neuropathy.
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Comparative Study
The impact of an extreme sports event on a district general hospital.
Extreme sports events are increasing in popularity, particularly in mountainous areas throughout Great Britain. Emergency medical care for these events is usually provided by voluntary organisations, providing event side first aid and referring patients to nearby District General Hospitals. The Fort William Mountain Bike Race is part of the UCI World Cup Series: 173 competitors racing in cross country, downhill and 4X events. The Belford Hospital provides year round medical care for the Lochaber community, which frequently swells during the tourist season. The hospital has 8300 new attendances per annum, 35 patient reviews per 24 hrs. ⋯ We believe that extreme sports events can have considerable impact on small district general hospitals. Additional triage and staffing resources should be utilised and event organisers should anticipate the additional problems they present to the local community. District General Hospitals continue to provide a substantial contribution to the provision of health care for extreme sports within the UK.
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Comparative Study
Admission proforma significantly improves the medical record.
The authors worked in a busy regional fracture unit, where it was noted that important data was being omitted from medical notes. In an attempt to improve on this, an admission proforma was formulated. ⋯ Notes were audited on two separate weeks, the first before, and the second after introduction of the proforma. The overall results demonstrate statistically significant improvements in documentation with a proforma, and concur with the limited previous literature in this area.
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Comparative Study
Improving documentation of head injured patients admitted to the emergency department ward.
Well-written and factually accurate medical records are one of the cornerstones of Emergency Medicine. This audit aimed to assess whether documentation could be improved for head injured patients admitted to the Emergency Department observation ward using a pre-printed proforma. ⋯ Documentation of all important positive and negative signs in head injured patients can be time consuming and often a challenge for doctors working in busy Emergency Departments. Accurate documentation is however important from both a clinical and a medico-legal position and this audit have shown that the introduction of a customized proforma can improve the quality of documentation. In addition clinical management of head injured patients may improve as the proforma also acts as a prompt for their subsequent investigation and treatment.