Emergency medicine journal : EMJ
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This review investigates the use of ketamine for paediatric sedation and analgesia in the emergency department.
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A short cut review was carried out to establish whether inferior vena cava filters were better than standard anticoagulation therapy in reducing pulmonary emboli in patients with proximal vein lower limb DVTs. Altogether 463 papers were found using the reported search, of which one 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 this best paper are tabulated. A clinical bottom line is stated.
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Currently, an emergency ambulance is dispatched to all cardiac arrest victims. This study aimed to determine the outcome of patients with a dispatch code of 09B01 ("obvious death") and considers the appropriateness of dispatching a non-emergency response. ⋯ Not all patients coded 09B01 by dispatchers are assessed as "dead beyond resuscitation" by attending ambulance crews. Although poor data recovery and a small sample size limited the study, its findings suggest that it is inappropriate to allocate a non-emergency response to 09B01 (obvious death) calls.
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A simple algorithm has been produced to assist front line ground ambulance personnel, air ambulance crews, and immediate care doctors attending trauma patients in selecting the most appropriate mode of transport from the incident scene to hospital.
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To identify those attributes experts regard as desirable qualities in the ambulance technician, paramedic, and clinical supervisor. ⋯ There was significant agreement among the experts as to the desirable attributes of ambulance staff, many of which do not feature in existing ambulance training curriculums. The findings of this study may therefore be of value in informing future curriculum development and in providing guidance for the selection of staff for each of the occupational groups.