Emergency medicine journal : EMJ
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Calls to emergency departments (EDs) from ambulances to alert them to a critical case being transported to that facility that requires a special response ('pre-alerts') have been shown to improve outcomes for patients requiring immediate time-critical treatment (eg, stroke). However, little is known about their usefulness for other patients and the processes involved in ED responses to them. This study aimed to understand how pre-alerts influence patient care in the ED. ⋯ Improving processes for receiving and sharing pre-alert information may help ED clinicians prepare appropriately for incoming patients. Alternative routes for ambulance clinicians to seek advice on borderline pre-alert patients may help to improve the appropriateness of pre-alerts.
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Female participants are underrepresented in randomised control trials conducted in urgent care settings. Although sex and gender are frequently reported within demographic data, it is less common for primary outcomes to be disaggregated by sex or gender. The aim of this review is to report sex and gender of participants in the primary papers published on research listed on the National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR) Trauma and Emergency Care (TEC) portfolio and how these data are presented. ⋯ Fewer females than males were included in TEC trials from 2010 to 2023. One trial reported the primary outcome stratified by sex. There is significant scope to increase the scientific value of TEC trials to females by funders.