Emergency medicine journal : EMJ
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To estimate the global and national burden of emergency conditions, and compare them to emergency care usage rates. ⋯ Despite higher burden of emergency conditions, emergency usage rates are substantially lower in LMICs, likely due to limited access to emergency care.
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A shortcut review was carried out to establish whether intravenous lidocaine is effective in the management of renal colic. Two studies were directly relevant to the question. ⋯ The clinical bottom line is that intravenous lidocaine may be of some benefit in renal colic. However, there are other maybe more effective drugs available.
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National data collection provides information on out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) incidence, management and outcomes that may not be generalisable from smaller studies. This retrospective cohort study describes the first 2 years' results from the Irish National Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest Register (OHCAR). ⋯ This study highlights the role of nationwide registries in quantifying, monitoring and benchmarking OHCA incidence and outcome, providing baseline data upon which service improvement effects can be measured.
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The use of helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) has increased significantly in the UK since 1987. To date there has been no research that addresses HEMS pilots and medical crews' own ideas on the risks that they view as inherent in their line of work and how to mitigate these risks. The aim of this survey is to describe and compare the attitudes and perceptions towards risk in HEMS operations of these staff. ⋯ We have surveyed a cross-section of the HEMS operational community in the UK in order to describe their perceptions of safety and risk within their professional life. Two-thirds of respondents believed that HEMS operations were inherently safe. Those who did not seemed to be influenced by personal experience of a crash or serious incident. We support increased operational training for clinical crewmembers, an increased emphasis on incident reporting and a culture of safety, and careful attention to minimum training and equipment requirements for all HEMS missions.
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Observational Study
ED healthcare professionals and their notions of productivity.
The combination of constrained resources, patient complexity and rapidly increasing demand has meant that healthcare productivity constitutes a significant problem for emergency medicine. However, healthcare productivity remains a contentious issue, with some criticising the level of professional engagement. This paper will propose that productivity improvements in healthcare could occur (and be sustained) if professionals' perceptions and views of productivity were better understood. ⋯ By exploring how these HCPs experienced and made sense of productivity improvement and productive healthcare, the data reveals how HCPs may reconcile a culture of caring with one of efficiency. Understanding healthcare productivity from this perspective has potential implications for service improvement design and performance measurement.