Emergency medicine journal : EMJ
-
Decompression sickness (DCS) with spinal cord involvement has an unfortunately high rate of long-term sequelae. The objective of this study was to determine the association of prehospital variables on the outcome of spinal cord DCS, especially the influence of the initial clinical presentation and the time to recompression. ⋯ Determining the initial clinical severity is critical in identifying patients who need to be evacuated for recompression as quickly as possible.
-
Review
Systematic review of factors influencing decisions to limit treatment in the emergency department.
Emergency physicians are frequently faced with making decisions regarding how aggressive to be in caring for critically ill patients. We aimed to identify factors that influence decisions to limit treatment in the Emergency Department (ED) through a systematic search of the available literature. ⋯ Several factors influence decisions to limit treatment in the ED. Many factors are objective and quantifiable, but some are subjective and open to individual interpretation. This review highlights the complexity of the subject and the need for more robust research in this field.
-
Healthcare workers (HCWs) are frontline responders to emergency infectious disease outbreaks such as COVID-19. To avoid the rapid spread of disease, adherence to protective measures is paramount. We investigated rates of correct use of personal protective equipment (PPE), hand hygiene and physical distancing in UK HCWs who had been to their workplace at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and factors associated with adherence. ⋯ Uptake of personal protective behaviours among UK HCWs at the start of the pandemic was variable. Factors associated with adherence provide insight into ways to support HCWs to adopt personal protective behaviours, such as ensuring that adequate PPE is available and designing workplaces to facilitate physical distancing.