BMC emergency medicine
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BMC emergency medicine · Jan 2012
Randomized Controlled TrialNovel electronic refreshers for cardiopulmonary resuscitation: a randomized controlled trial.
Currently the American Red Cross requires that individuals renew their cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) certification annually; this often requires a 4- to 8-hour refresher course. Those trained in CPR often show a decrease in essential knowledge and skills within just a few months after training. New electronic means of communication have expanded the possibilities for delivering CPR refreshers to members of the general public who receive CPR training. The study's purpose was to determine the efficacy of three novel CPR refreshers--online website, e-mail and text messaging--for improving three outcomes of CPR training--skill retention, confidence for using CPR and intention to use CPR. These three refreshers may be considered "novel" in that they are not typically used to refresh CPR knowledge and skills. ⋯ There was no consistent evidence for the superiority of novel refreshers as compared with a traditional mailed brochure, but the low degree of actual exposure to the materials does not allow a definitive conclusion. An online web-based approach seems to have the most promise for future research on electronic CPR refreshers.
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BMC emergency medicine · Jan 2012
Duration of patients' visits to the hospital emergency department.
Length of stay is an important indicator of quality of care in Emergency Departments (ED). This study explores the duration of patients' visits to the ED for which they are treated and released (T&R). ⋯ The duration of T&R ED visits varied significantly by admission hour, day of the week, patient volume, patient characteristics, hospital characteristics and area characteristics.
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BMC emergency medicine · Jan 2012
Case ReportsIdentical fracture patterns in combat vehicle blast injuries due to improvised explosive devices; a case series.
In November 2008, a surgical team from the Red Cross Hospital Beverwijk, the Netherlands, was deployed in Afghanistan for three months to attend in the army hospital of Kandahar.During their stay, four incidents of armored personnel carriers encountering an improvised explosive device were assessed. In each incident, two soldiers were involved, whose injuries were strikingly similar. ⋯ From this case series, as well as the existing literature on injury patterns caused by blast injuries, it seems appropriate to pay extra attention to bodily areas that were injured in other occupants of the same vehicle. Obviously, the additional surveillance for specific injuries should be complementary to the regular trauma work-up (e.g., ATLS).
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BMC emergency medicine · Jan 2012
The critical incident inventory: characteristics of incidents which affect emergency medical technicians and paramedics.
Emergency medical technicians (EMTs) and paramedics experience critical incidents which evoke distress and impaired functioning but it is unknown which aspects of incidents contribute to their impact. We sought to determine these specific characteristics by developing an inventory of critical incident characteristics and testing their relationship to protracted recovery from acute stress, and subsequent emotional symptoms. ⋯ Emotional sequelae are associated most strongly with EMT/paramedics' personal experience, and least with systemic characteristics. A14-item inventory identifies critical incident characteristics associated with emotional sequelae. This may be helpful in tailoring recovery support to individual provider needs.
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BMC emergency medicine · Jan 2012
Depression is associated with longer emergency department length of stay in acute coronary syndrome patients.
Patient demographic characteristics have been associated with longer emergency department (ED) treatment times, but the influence of psychosocial characteristics has not been assessed. We evaluated whether depression was associated with greater ED length of stay (LOS) in non-ST elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) and unstable angina (UA) patients presenting to a large metropolitan academic medical center. ⋯ Currently depressed NSTEMI/UA patients are in the ED for an average of 5 hours longer than those who have never been depressed. Further research is needed to identify the reasons for this difference.