Articles: emergency-medicine.
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Ethical concerns are a major part of the clinical practice of emergency medicine. The emergency physician must make hard choices, not only with regard to the scientific/technical aspects but also with regard to the moral aspects of caring for emergency patients. By the nature of the specialty, emergency physicians face ethical dilemmas often requiring prompt decisions with limited information. ⋯ Neither the scientific nor the moral aspects of clinical decision making can be reduced to simple formulas. Nevertheless, decisions must be made. Emergency physicians should, therefore, be cognizant of the ethical principles that are important for emergency medicine, understand the process of ethical reasoning, and be capable of making rational moral decisions based on a stable framework of values.
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The response to major trauma in Britain has been demonstrated to be inadequate. One of the suggested approaches to tackling the problem has been the setting up of rapid response trauma teams at district general hospitals. ⋯ Numbers of patients were not sufficient to draw any firm conclusions, though no dramatic improvement in outcome was evident. Problems in setting up such a team are discussed.