Articles: emergency-medical-services.
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Southern medical journal · Jul 1990
Pelvic fractures: an analysis of factors affecting prehospital triage and patient outcome.
Using an established prehospital regional triage protocol, 175 patients sustaining fractures of the pelvis were managed in a level one trauma center during a 38-month interval. The majority of injuries (51.7%) were caused by motor vehicle accidents and involved an average trauma score (TS) of 13 and an average injury severity score (ISS) of 24. ⋯ It appears that TS alone is not reliable in prehospital triage of patients with pelvic fractures. Age and mechanism of injury may better identify the patient at risk for morbidity and mortality.
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Ann R Coll Surg Engl · Jul 1990
Theatre delay for emergency general surgical patients: a cause for concern?
The delay involved in operating on emergency general surgical patients is often excessive. This problem has been examined prospectively in a district general hospital with a catchment population of 450,000. Over a 16-week period, the details of 204 consecutive general surgical emergency operations were recorded and analysed. ⋯ Our results suggest that unnecessary theatre delay results in an unacceptable number of emergency general surgical operations occurring after midnight. It is important that routine afternoon lists do not overrun, as this contributes directly to evening theatre delay. If both theatre and anaesthetic availability could be ensured in the afternoon and early evening, the after midnight workload could be cut from 26% to 10%, and staff sleep deprivation reduced.
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During a six-month period in 1988, two nurse-midwives documented the telephone calls they received in an OB/GYN/CNM practice. Calls were then tallied and categorized for analysis. A discussion of the numbers and types of calls is presented as well as a review of the literature on telephone triage/management.