Emergency medicine journal : EMJ
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Multicenter Study
National audit of emergency department child protection procedures.
To assess the compliance with national guidelines on child protection procedures and provision of paediatric services in major English emergency departments. ⋯ Many nationally agreed recommendations are being met, but there is a need for improved training, increased numbers of specialised staff, and improved communication between professionals. There is considerable variation in practice between departments.
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A short cut review was carried out to establish whether the addition of glucagon to standard treatments improves clinical outcome in patients who have taken an overdose of tricyclic antidepressants. Altogether 31 papers were found using the reported search, of which three presented the best evidence to answer the clinical question. The author, date and country of publication, patient group studied, study type, relevant outcomes, results, and study weaknesses of these best papers are tabulated. A clinical bottom line is stated.
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Multicenter Study
Barking up the wrong tree? A survey of dog bite wound management.
Several trials have been published examining the role of antibiotics in dog bite wound management. A meta-analysis of these suggests that there is very little benefit to routine antibiotic prescription in these patients. All papers however incorporated rigorous wound care regimens involving large volume irrigation. ⋯ Management of dog bite wounds would not seem to be evidence based in most departments in this sample.
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Emergency medicine is now proving a popular specialty in the United Kingdom. A recent report ranks emergency medicine second in specialties attracting the most applications for specialist registrar (SpR) interview. ⋯ It identifies areas in which a curriculum vitae may be improved. It should also enable emergency department trainees to set objectives for their early SpR years.
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(1) To assess the proportion of patients of triage category 3-5 presenting to the minor side of an urban emergency department who present without taking prior pain relief, and (2) to describe the reasons why they do not take pain relief for their presenting complaint ⋯ Most patients presenting with painful conditions to the minor side of an urban emergency department had not taken pain relief. The study highlights there are many different reasons for this and staff should not presume that it was because the patient "did not think about it". Ongoing education of staff and patients is needed.