Articles: emergency-medicine.
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A review of the literature is made, in the attempt to establish the principles of the diagnosis and treatment in emergency surgery. They are listed as follows: 1. To preserve patient life and evaluate the functional capacity of the organism; 2. ⋯ To choose the method of treatment; 4. Method of operation. The guidelines in emergency surgery is to develop and perfect new methods of operation and new technical facilities, to raise the professional skill of the surgeon and to improve the organization of work in surgical clinics and departments.
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Comparative Study
Reliability of the Glasgow Coma Scale when used by emergency physicians and paramedics.
We sought to determine the reliability of the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) when used by emergency physicians and paramedics. We performed a prospective sequential trial in a classroom setting, with subjects blinded to others' scoring. Nineteen university-affiliated emergency physicians and 41 professional paramedics from an urban EMS system voluntarily participated. ⋯ Intrarater reliability (r1,2) for emergency physicians was 0.66 (p < 0.01) and for paramedics was 0.63 (p < 0.01). The GCS shows statistically significant reliability (i.e., significant agreement) between emergency physicians and emergency medical technician-paramedics. It also has a significant level of intrarater reliability.
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To determine the time from triage in an emergency department until administration of parenteral antibiotics in children with bacterial meningitis. ⋯ These data reveal that the usual and customary practice (ie, standard medical care) by qualified physicians may differ from opinions of standard medical care promulgated by medical experts. Even among experts there is a wide range of (mistaken) opinions about standard medical care. Insofar as jurors in medical malpractice cases are instructed to consider what physicians "ordinarily do in similar circumstances," a data-based definition of "standard" medical care should supplant anecdotal testimony by individual expert witnesses.