Articles: emergency-medical-services.
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Observational Study
Use of Routine Emergency Department Care Practices with Deaf American Sign Language Users.
Deaf individuals who communicate using American Sign Language (ASL) seem to experience a range of disparities in health care, but there are few empirical data. ⋯ Results suggest disparate provision of several types of routine ED care for adult Deaf ASL users. Limitations include the observational study design at a single site and reliance on the medical record, underscoring the need for further research and potential reasons for disparate ED care with Deaf individuals.
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Limitations in current data collection systems for patients who experience traumatic injury limit researchers' ability to identify and address disparities in injury and outcomes. We sought to develop and test a patient-centered data-collection system for equity-related data indicators that was acceptable to racially and ethnically diverse patients being treated for traumatic injuries. ⋯ We identified a patient-centered data collection system for health equity measures with racially and ethnically diverse patients who have experienced traumatic injury. This system has the potential to increase data quality and accuracy, which is critical to quality improvement efforts and for researchers seeking to identify groups most impacted by racism and other structural barriers to equitable health outcomes and effective intervention points.
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Prehospital triage and transport protocols are critical components of the trauma systems. Still, there have been limited studies evaluating the performance of trauma protocols in New South Wales, such as the NSW ambulance major Trauma transport protocol (T1). ⋯ Overall, the T1 was associated with low undertriage and high specificity. The protocol may be improved by considering age and the number of trauma protocols activated by paramedics for any given patient.
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High emergency department (ED) usage by older individuals for non-emergencies is a global concern. ED avoidance initiatives have proven effective in addressing this issue. To specifically cater to individuals aged 65 and above, the Southern Adelaide Local Health Network introduced an innovative ED avoidance service. This study assessed the acceptability of the service among its users. ⋯ Our findings suggest that ED admission avoidance programmes may be an acceptable alternative treatment for older people requiring urgent care, potentially benefiting both public health systems and user experience.
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Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is a leading cause of death worldwide. Cardiac rhythms of OHCA patients can change during transportation and transfer from emergency medical services (EMS) to the emergency department (ED). ⋯ Cardiac rhythm changes can occur in OHCA patients during transfer from EMS to the ED. Our results showed some evidence that these changes are associated with a lower ED survival.