Emergency medicine journal : EMJ
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A short-cut review was carried out to establish the diagnostic accuracy of blood biomarkers as an alternative to imaging for the diagnosis of ischaemic stroke. Nine studies were directly relevant to the question. The author, date and country of publication, patient group studied, study type, relevant outcomes, results and study weaknesses of these papers are tabulated. The clinical bottom line is that that blood biomarkers are currently not suitable for the diagnosis of acute ischaemic stroke.
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Multicenter Study Observational Study
Modelling attending physician productivity in the emergency department: a multicentre study.
Emergency physician productivity, often defined as new patients evaluated per hour, is essential to planning clinical operations. Prior research in this area considered this a static quantity; however, our group's study of resident physicians demonstrated significant decreases in hourly productivity throughout shifts. We now examine attending physicians' productivity to determine if it is also dynamic. ⋯ Physician productivity over a single shift follows a predictable pattern that decreases significantly on an hourly basis, even if there are new patients to be seen. Estimating productivity as a simple average substantially underestimates physicians' capacity early in a shift and overestimates it later. This pattern of productivity should be factored into hospitals' staffing plans, with shifts aligned to start with the greatest volumes of patient arrivals.
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A short-cut review was carried out to establish the diagnostic accuracy of ultrasound for Salter-Harris type 1 fractures. Three studies were directly relevant to the question. ⋯ The clinical bottom line is that ultrasound may allow visualisation of Salter-Harris type 1 fractures. However, little is known as to its sensitivity and specificity, and therefore it cannot be used to eliminate the diagnosis.