Articles: emergency-medical-services.
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This is an investigation of the impact of an emergency room triage by a medical specialist. The study encompassed patients who came to the medical section of the emergency room of a large university hospital during a two-week study period and a control period of the same length. The result showed that 36% of the patients could be sent home after the triage, thereby reducing the number of chemical tests and ECG examinations significantly (p less than 0.001). ⋯ No effect of the triage on hospital use of out-patient visits to the hospital during a one year follow-up period was noted. The triage procedure was safe for, and accepted by the patients, as was demonstrated by follow-ups involving investigation of the death register and personal interviews. The study shows that triage by a specialist is an effective method for reducing hospital service utilization and shortening patient treatment time.
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Sudden unexpected death is a traumatic event for surviving family and friends. When the survivors learn of their loss, they react with turmoil and disbelief. ⋯ To provide emergency staff with guidelines, we review the dynamics of grief and discuss intervention in the following six phases: contacting the survivors; arrival of the survivors; notification of death; the grief response; viewing the body; and the concluding process. We conclude with a discussion of intervention with children.
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Acta Chir Scand Suppl · Jan 1986
The ambulance helicopter is a prerequisite for centralised emergency care.
During the summer seasons of 1978-1983 (56 weeks), trial activity with a physician-manned ambulance helicopter was carried out in the County of Stockholm (population 1.5 million). The area includes an extensive archipelago. Within the region there are 11 large general hospitals, three of which are supplied with a helicopter pad. ⋯ By special training of emergency call operators, the number of unnecessary helicopter missions could be minimised (9% of all missions). To continuing specialisation and centralisation of emergency care with extended catchment areas, demands an advanced transport system. This trial has shown that through the use of a physician-manned ambulance helicopter the emergency care within the region can be centralised with retention of adequate turn-out times.
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Comparative Study
Therapeutic intervention scoring as a measure of performance in a helicopter emergency medical services program.
Helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS), which are both expensive and resource intensive, lack objective measures for system evaluation. We computed the Therapeutic Intervention Scoring System (TISS) score for all patients during six consecutive months of service in a HEMS program to assess the value of this score for measuring the performance of the program. The TISS assigns values ranging from 1 to 4 for 57 medical and surgical interventions to measure the intensity of care during a 24-hour period. ⋯ Thirty-four flights (17%) were thought to be appropriate using the information available at flight time, but not after the diagnostic workup was completed (mean TISS, 10.0). Thirty-six patients (18%) did not appear to require helicopter transport at any time, and had a mean TISS of 9.0. We conclude that TISS is a useful, objective measure of the performance of a HEMS program, and it should be tested in other HEMS programs.