Articles: emergency-medical-services.
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Montana is a rural state with limited access to higher-level trauma care; it also has higher injury fatality rates compared with the rest of the country. ⋯ Prompt access to trauma care is significantly lower in Montana than in other parts of the country, with dramatic disparities for American Indians. In a rural state, it is important to ensure that all hospitals are equipped to provide some level of trauma care to reduce these disparities.
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Bystander-applied Automated External Defibrillators (AED) improve outcomes for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. AED placement is often driven by private enterprise or non-for-profit agencies, which may result in inequitable access. We sought to compare AED availability between four regions in British Columbia (BC). ⋯ BC's four most populous regions demonstrate substantial variability in AED accessibility. Further benefit could be derived from AEDs if placed in locations accessible all hours. Our data may encourage community planning efforts to use data-based strategies to systematically place AEDs in optimal locations with strategies to maximize accessibility.
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Editorial Comment
Prehospital Airway Management - the Continued Search for Evidence.
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Long waiting times in the ED have been shown to cause negative outcomes for patients. This study aims to assess the effect in reducing length of stay of (1) preventing low-acuity attenders from attending the ED and (2) diverting low-acuity attenders at triage to a colocated general practice (GP) service. ⋯ Reducing the proportion of low-acuity attenders at the ED could have an impact on the time in the ED for higher acuity patients due to their use of shared resources, but is insufficient alone to meet current targets. The simulation model could be adapted for further analyses to understand which other changes would be needed to meet current government targets.