Articles: emergency-medicine.
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Pediatric emergency care · Feb 1998
GuidelineGuidelines for pediatric equipment and supplies for emergency departments. Committee on Pediatric Equipment and Supplies for Emergency Departments, National Emergency Medical Services for Children Resource Alliance.
Appropriate care for ill and injured pediatric patients cannot be given if emergency departments (EDs) are not adequately equipped. Although guidelines for equipment and supplies for EDs have been published by national organizations in pediatric emergency textbooks and by state emergency medical services for children projects, until now there has been no consensus on what constitutes minimum equipment and supplies to care for pediatric patients in the ED setting.
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1) To assess Canadian emergency physicians' (EPs') use of and attitudes toward 2 radiographic clinical decision rules that have recently been developed and to identify physician characteristics associated with decision rule use; 2) to determine the use of CT head and cervical spine radiography by EPs and their beliefs about the appropriateness of expert recommendations supporting the routine use of these radiographic procedures; and 3) to determine the potential acceptance of clinical decision rules for CT scan in patients with minor head injury and cervical spine radiography in trauma patients. ⋯ Canadian EPs are generally supportive of clinical decision rules and, in particular, have very positive attitudes toward the Ottawa Ankle and Knee Rules. Furthermore, EPs disagree with recommendations for routine use of CT head and cervical spine radiography and strongly support the development of well-validated decision rules for the use of CT head and cervical spine radiography. Most EPs expected the latter rules to be 100% sensitive for acute clinically significant lesions.
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Comparative Study
Comparative knowledge and practice of emergency physicians, cardiologists, and primary care practitioners regarding drug therapy for acute myocardial infarction.
This study assesses the knowledge and practice of emergency physicians regarding the treatment of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and compares the results with previously published data on cardiologists and primary care practitioners. ⋯ For the management of AMI, emergency physicians, on average, have a similar or greater awareness of the effects on survival and similar or better practice patterns regarding most acute pharmacologic interventions when compared with those of cardiologists; both groups, on average, have a superior knowledge and practice when compared with primary care practitioners. These results illustrate the importance of emergency medicine and support further consideration of an expanding role for the emergency physician in the nation's evolving health-care system.
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This article provides information supporting the need for new outcome measures in emergency care. It also addresses the use of outcome measures in emergency care, the impact of emergency care, identification of at-risk groups, new approaches to measuring patient satisfaction, quality of life and cost-effectiveness, and the unique related implications for emergency medicine. [Cairns CB, Garrison HG, Hedges JR, Schriger DL, Valenzuela TD: Development of new methods to assess the outcomes of emergency care. Ann Emerg Med February 1998;31:166-171.].
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Comparative Study
Radiologists' review of radiographs interpreted confidently by emergency physicians infrequently leads to changes in patient management.
To determine whether radiologists' review of radiographs is unwarranted when emergency physicians are confident in their interpretations. ⋯ Of 9,599 sets of radiographs interpreted confidently by the emergency physicians in this study, there were 11 clinically significant discordant interpretations (0.1%). The standard practice of radiologists' review of all ED radiographs may not be justifiable.