Emergency medicine journal : EMJ
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The planning of regional emergency medical services is aided by accurate prediction of urgent ambulance journey times, but it is unclear whether it is appropriate to use Geographical Information System (GIS) products designed for general traffic. We examined the accuracy of a commercially available generic GIS package when predicting emergency ambulance journey times under different population and temporal conditions. ⋯ It is reasonable to estimate emergency ambulance journey times using generic GIS software, but in order to avoid insufficient regional ambulance provision it would be necessary to make small adjustments because of the tendency towards systematic underprediction.
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Observational Study
Prehospital use in emergency patients of a laryngeal mask airway by ambulance paramedics is a safe and effective alternative for endotracheal intubation.
In Dutch ambulance practice, failure or inability to intubate patients with altered oxygenation and/or ventilation leaves bag-valve mask ventilation as the only alternative, which is undesirable for patient outcome. A novel Laryngeal Mask Airway Supreme (LMA-S) device may be a suitable alternative. ⋯ Ensuring ventilation support by using LMA-S by paramedics in prehospital emergency practice is safe and effective.
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To survey the attendance of patients presenting with a head injury (HI) at a UK emergency department (ED), identifying numbers, types of service and referral routes; to survey subsequent service use and to highlight the challenges in service planning and identifying which patients may potentially benefit from follow-up/rehabilitation input. ⋯ These study findings highlight the difficulties in identifying patients who would benefit from follow-up, in particular after mild HI. Our study findings will form the basis of a long-term follow-up study.
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To assess staff knowledge of Centers for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines, attitudes and barriers towards emergency department (ED) HIV testing before and after implementing an ED rapid HIV testing programme (EDRHTP). ⋯ Overall support for ED HIV testing increased after establishment of a rapid testing programme.