Journal of accident & emergency medicine
-
Comparative Study
Who should see eye casualties?: a comparison of eye care in an accident and emergency department with a dedicated eye casualty.
Emergency care for eye complaints is provided both by accident and emergency (A&E) departments as well as by dedicated eye casualty departments. This study examines the role of each type of department and the quality of eye care provided. Significant differences were found between the accident and emergency department and the eye casualty department in the history, examination and management of eye patients. ⋯ Most of the omissions related to a failure to perform an adequate, yet simple, ocular examination including failure to record visual acuity. In 44% (44-100) of A&E cases visual acuity was not recorded or recorded incorrectly. In comparison acuity omissions in eye casualty were present in only 4% (2/50) of cases.
-
Comparative Study
Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: two and a half years experience of an accident and emergency department in Hong Kong.
The results are presented of 2 1/2 years of experience of patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrests who were resuscitated in an accident and emergency department (A&E) attached to an acute district hospital in Hong Kong. Out of 263 cases of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest as a result of a variety of causes only seven patients survived (3%) and among the 135 patients with cardiac aetiology only four survived (3%). Ways to improve the outcome for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest are discussed.
-
A 48-year-old man accidently swallowed the ring pull from a soft drink can. He complained of pain in his chest. ⋯ Oesophagoscopy was carried out and the ring pull was successfully removed. We recommend the wider use of metal detectors by accident and emergency (A&E) department staff particularly when dealing with patients who have ingested metals of low radiodensity.