Articles: emergency-department.
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Emerg. Med. Clin. North Am. · Aug 2013
ReviewChildhood asthma: a guide for pediatric emergency medicine providers.
Pediatric asthma is a disease that is managed across outpatient physicians, hospitalists, critical care physicians, and emergency department (ED) physicians. Scoring systems may facilitate a rapid assessment of the child with asthma in the ED. ⋯ ED providers must also know the indications for noninvasive ventilation and intubation. Most patients can be treated and discharged from the ED after acute exacerbation, and should be given a plan for going home that provides educational material and emergency scenarios to help prevent future acute incidents.
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Australas Emerg Nurs J · Aug 2013
A critical discussion of the concept of recovery for mental health consumers in the Emergency Department.
The Emergency Department has increasingly become the initial point of contact for mental health crisis assessment and intervention, and is the interface between community and inpatient care. Questions regarding the appropriateness of the Emergency Department in providing a suitable environment for people who have a mental health issue abound with commentary regarding the confidence and competence of general Registered Nurses to provide mental health care. Emergency Departments are busy noisy places where rapid assessments and response is the norm and is counterintuitive to contemporary mental health care. ⋯ Furthermore, Emergency Department staff must be supported in acquiring the knowledge and skills required to care for and manage people with a mental health issue. This includes cognisance and understanding of the Recovery-oriented model of care which is the model of care considered best practice for this client group. This paper offers a critical discussion of the concept of recovery for mental health consumers in the Emergency Department.
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Eur J Trauma Emerg S · Aug 2013
Epidemiology and management of trauma patients in a Greek multispecialty hospital in the absence of a dedicated trauma center.
In the absence of dedicated trauma centers, surgical emergency departments in hospitals assigned as trauma centers accept a huge load of trauma patients. In this audit, we aim to document and assess the epidemiologic data of trauma patients and their injuries in order to give a picture of the impact of trauma in the workload of a surgical department in the Greek healthcare system. ⋯ In the absence of level one trauma centers, in multispecialty urban hospitals, the coordination of trauma burdens the general surgery team. This has financial and administrative implications. The collection of important epidemiologic data from these hospitals is mandatory in order to develop national prevention measures against injuries.
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Firearm violence is a leading cause of death among youth. The objectives of this study were (1) determine firearm possession rates and associated correlates among youth seeking care for assault in an emergency department (ED); (2) understand differences in risk factors for youth with firearm possession; and (3) identify firearm possession characteristics in this population: type, reason for possession, and source of firearms. ⋯ ED assault-injured youth had high rates of firearm possession (23.1%), most of which were not obtained from legal sources. Youth with firearm possession were more likely to have been in a recent serious fight, and to endorse aggressive attitudes that increase their risk for retaliatory violence. Future prevention efforts should focus on minimizing illegal firearm access among high-risk youth, nonviolent alternatives to retaliatory violence, and substance use prevention.
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BMJ quality & safety · Aug 2013
Multicenter Study Observational StudyInterruptions in emergency department work: an observational and interview study.
Frequent interruptions are assumed to have a negative effect on healthcare clinicians' working memory that could result in risk for errors and hence threatening patient safety. The aim of this study was to explore interruptions occurring during common activities of clinicians working in emergency departments. ⋯ Clinicians were exposed to interruptions most often during information exchange. Relative to its occurrence, preparation of medication was the most common activity to be interrupted, which might increase risk for errors. Interruptions seemed to be perceived as something negative when related to disturbed work processes.