Emergency medicine journal : EMJ
-
Multicenter Study
The accuracy of existing prehospital triage tools for injured children in England--an analysis using trauma registry data.
To investigate the performance characteristics of prehospital paediatric triage tools for identifying seriously injured children in England. ⋯ None of the prehospital triage tools currently used or being developed in England meet recommended criteria for over- and under-triage rates. There is an urgent need for the development of triage tools to accurately risk-stratify injured children in the prehospital setting.
-
Multicenter Study Observational Study
A multicentre observational study to evaluate a new tool to assess emergency physicians' non-technical skills.
To evaluate a new tool to assess emergency physicians' non-technical skills. ⋯ This study shows the performance of the assessment tool is acceptable and provides valuable information to structure the assessment and training of non-technical skills, especially in relation to leadership. The framework of skills may be used to identify areas for development in individual trainees, as well as guide other patient safety interventions.
-
Review Case Reports
Towards evidence-based emergency medicine: best BETs from the Manchester Royal Infirmary. BET 2: Immobilisation of stable ankle fractures: plaster cast or functional brace?
A short-cut review of the literature was carried out to establish whether a functional brace was as good as a traditional plaster of Paris to immobilise a stable ankle fracture in terms of functionality and recovery speed. A total of 260 papers was found using the below outlined search method, of which five were thought to represent the best evidence to answer the specific clinical question. ⋯ The clinical bottom line is that the limited evidence seems to suggest that a functional brace appears to give more favourable outcomes. Good quality studies involving large populations are, however, needed to delineate a clear answer to this specific question.
-
A short-cut review of the literature was carried out to establish whether the biological marker procalcitonin could safely rule out the diagnosis of meningococcal disease (MCD) in children. Using the below outlined search method and after the exclusion of the non-relevant papers, two were found to be relevant to the specific question. The author, date and country of publication, patient group studied, study type, relevant outcomes, results and study weaknesses of these are shown in table 3. The clinical bottom line is that the currently available evidence is not sufficient to support the sole use of procalcitonin to rule out the diagnosis of MCD.