Emergency medicine journal : EMJ
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Impact of serial cardiopulmonary point-of-care ultrasound exams in patients with acute dyspnoea: a randomised, controlled trial.
Serial point-of-care ultrasound (PoCUS) can potentially improve acute patient care through treatment adjusted to the dynamic ultrasound findings. The objective was to investigate if treatment guided by monitoring patients with acute dyspnoea with serial cardiopulmonary PoCUS and usual care could reduce the severity of dyspnoea compared with usual care alone. ⋯ Therapy guided by serial cardiopulmonary PoCUS may, together with usual care, facilitate greater improvement in the severity of dyspnoea, especially in patients with AHF compared with usual care with a single PoCUS in the ED. Serial PoCUS should therefore be considered for routine use to aid the physician in stabilising the patient faster.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Methocarbamol versus diazepam in acute low back pain in the emergency department: a randomised double-blind clinical trial.
Acute low back pain (LBP) is a common complaint in the emergency department and achieving effective analgesia can be challenging. ⋯ In patients with LBP, the pain was relieved in the methocarbamol and diazepam groups after 60 min. Although diazepam was more effective, its use was associated with a slightly higher risk of drowsiness.
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Comment Letter Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Letter to the editor: Non-sterile gloves and dressing versus sterile gloves, dressings and drapes for suturing of traumatic wounds in the emergency department: a non-inferiority multicentre randomised controlled trial.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Observational Study
Prehospital ABC (Age, Bystander and Cardiogram) scoring system to predict neurological outcomes of cardiopulmonary arrest on arrival: post hoc analysis of a multicentre prospective observational study.
There is currently limited evidence to guide prehospital identification of patients with cardiopulmonary arrest on arrival (CPAOA) to hospital who have potentially favourable neurological function. This study aimed to develop a simple scoring system that can be determined at the contact point with emergency medical services to predict neurological outcomes. ⋯ The ABC score showed good accuracy for predicting favourable neurological outcomes in patients with CPAOA. This simple scoring system could potentially be used to select patients for extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation and minimise low-flow time.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Non-sterile gloves and dressing versus sterile gloves, dressings and drapes for suturing of traumatic wounds in the emergency department: a non-inferiority multicentre randomised controlled trial.
Patients with traumatic wounds frequently present to the ED. Literature on whether to treat these wounds sterile or non-sterile is sparse. Non-sterile treatment has the advantage of saving resources and costs, and could be of value in health settings where sterile materials are not readily available. Our objective was to compare the rate of wound infection after suturing traumatic lacerations with non-sterile gloves and dressings versus sterile gloves, dressings and drapes in the ED. We hypothesised that non-sterile gloves and dressings would be non-inferior to sterile gloves, dressings and drapes. The non-inferiority margin was set at 2%. ⋯ Although recruitment ceased prior to reaching our planned sample size, the findings suggest that there is unlikely to be a large difference between the non-sterile gloves, dressings and sterile gloves, dressings and drapes for suturing of traumatic wounds in the ED.