Emergency medicine journal : EMJ
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A short cut review was carried out to establish whether cyclizine adversely affected haemodynamic parameters in patients with cardiac disease. A total of 70 papers were found 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. The clinical bottom line is that cyclizine should be avoided in patients with acute coronary events.
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A short cut review was carried out to establish whether absorbable sutures offered any benefits over non-absorbable sutures in the treatment of childhood facial lacerations. A total of 31 papers were found, 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. We conclude that absorbable sutures appear to be as good as, and show a trend towards benefit in the treatment of paediatric lacerations.
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Multicenter Study
Effectiveness of measures to reduce emergency department waiting times: a natural experiment.
To determine what measures were introduced by emergency departments in response to the national monitoring week in March 2003, and which, if any, of these were most effective in reducing waiting times. ⋯ Improved waiting time performance may depend, at least in the short term, more on the amount of effort expended than on introducing a single effective change. In addition, those measures most likely to be helpful are likely also to require additional resources.
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Airway management is a core aspect of emergency medicine. The technique of rapid sequence intubation (RSI) creates continuing debate between anaesthetists and emergency physicians in the UK, although similar complication rates for emergency department (ED) RSI have been shown for both specialties. This study examined prospectively collected data on every ED RSI performed in a university hospital in Glasgow over 5 years. ⋯ Emergency physician performed ED RSI is increasingly common but is not associated with overall higher numbers of RSIs being performed in the ED. Effective pre-oxygenation should be emphasised during training.
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Vehicle accidents in Greece are among the leading causes of death and the primary one in young people. The mechanism of injury influences the patterns of injury in victims of vehicle accidents. ⋯ The results reveal a clear association between different road-user categories and age and sex incidence patterns, as well as outcomes and injury profiles. Recognition of these features would be useful in designing effective prevention strategies and in comprehensive prehospital and inhospital treatment of motor-vehicle trauma patients.