Emergency medicine journal : EMJ
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Observational Study
Optimal timing for the Modified Early Warning Score for prediction of short-term critical illness in the acute care chain: a prospective observational study.
The Modified Early Warning Score (MEWS) is an effective tool to identify patients in the acute care chain who are likely to deteriorate. Although it is increasingly being implemented in the ED, the optimal moment to use the MEWS is unknown. This study aimed to determine at what moment in the acute care chain MEWS has the highest accuracy in predicting critical illness. ⋯ The performance of MEWS is moderate in predicting critical illness using vital parameters measured surrounding ED admission. However, an increase of MEWS during ED admission is correlated with the development of critical illness. Therefore, early recognition of deteriorating patients at the ED may be achieved by frequent MEWS calculation. Further studies should investigate the effect of continuous monitoring of these patients at the ED.
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Observational Study
Development and validation of an assessment tool for adult simulated ultrasound-guided fascia iliaca block: a prospective monocentric study.
Fascia iliaca block (FIB) is an effective technique for analgesia. While FIB using ultrasound is preferred, there is no current standardised training technique or assessment scale. We aimed to create a valid and reliable tool to assess ultrasound-guided FIB. ⋯ This assessment scale was found to be valid, reliable and able to identify different levels of experience with ultrasound-guided FIB.