Emergency medicine journal : EMJ
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A short-cut review was carried out to determine whether intranasal lidocaine was an effective treatment for patients with acute cluster headaches. Two hundred and seventy-two papers were found using the reported search, of which four were considered relevant to the three-part question. The author, date and country of publication, patient group studied, study type, relevant outcomes, results and study weaknesses are shown in table 2. Although the included studies all found some degree of symptomatic relief with this treatment, the methodological weaknesses of the studies compromised the validity of this finding, and the authors concluded that there was insufficient evidence to support this treatment in clinical practice.
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A short-cut review was carried out to determine whether hydrotherapy is an effective treatment to reduce pain and improve function in patients recovering from an ankle fracture. Although 12 papers were found using the reported search, no studies were relevant to this three-part question. No evidence was found to support this treatment.
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The study aimed to evaluate the response time (RT) of a French physician-staffed emergency medical service unit in both first-line and second-line service zones a part of its performance and how best to integrate it into its geographical specificity and showed acceptable RTs (mostly <10 min). Interestingly, because of the particular location next to other districts, RTs are in the same range for some municipalities that are adjacent to the first-line and area. In a new system in which catching areas would not only be based on administrative criteria anymore but also on performance evaluation, RTs for emergency medical service might be optimised.
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We describe improved reporting of paediatric out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) by adding coronial findings to a cardiac arrest registry. ⋯ This study highlights the limitations associated with ascribing the cause of OHCA on the basis of clinical details. Improved reporting is possible by linkage with coronial data. Such robust data inform EMS service providers but also the wider healthcare system where preventive, diagnostic and treatment strategies can be maximised.