Emergency medicine journal : EMJ
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To estimate the potential of alternative providers of care for minor health problems to reduce demands on emergency departments (EDs). ⋯ Although there appears to be considerable potential for minor conditions to be managed in settings other than the ED, our findings indicate that patients will continue to present these conditions to the ED. Patient perceptions of the urgency of their treatment need, and also the availability and capacity of alternative services may be offsetting their potential to substitute for the ED. Advice from other services may be contributing to demands on the ED.
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The aim of this study was to determine whether prehospital endotracheal intubation (ETI) and chest tube placement is unnecessarily time consuming in severely injured patients. ⋯ In a physician-based emergency medical service, prehospital ETI and chest tube placement do not prolong the total TRT of severely injured patients.
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Paracetamol poisoning remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality. Clinical care of paracetamol poisoning depends on a range of patient variables and typically involves both medical and nursing care. An integrated care pathway (ICP) is a multidisciplinary management plan that incorporates guidelines and best practice to enhance care and documentation for a specific patient group. Paracetamol overdose is thus amenable to an ICP. ⋯ Implementation of an ICP for paracetamol poisoning significantly improved patient management and helped to standardise inter-professional decision making in this challenging patient group. This is likely to improve patient outcome.