Articles: emergency-medicine.
-
To report the change in cricothyrotomy rate with emergency medicine (EM) residency development and to address the implications for training in this skill. ⋯ The cricothyrotomy rate decreased with the full implementation of the EM residency. Whether this trend was an effect of the presence of an EM faculty and residency training program, a parallel approach to airway management nationwide, or another unidentified factor will require further investigation. Nonetheless, given the increasing rarity of this procedure, it is likely that many EM, surgical, and anesthesiology residents will not acquire clinical experience with this technique during training.
-
We investigated the types of patient presentations that cause senior house officers (SHOs) most difficulty during their tenure in emergency departments and report the extent to which such difficulties are related to SHOs' communication problems, stress, or perceived lack of skills or knowledge. ⋯ ED SHOs may benefit from communication skills training, the opportunity to review difficult case presentations, and the alleviation of organizational stress factors.
-
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.