Articles: emergency-medicine.
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Unlike orthopedic or visceral surgeons, French military neurosurgeons are not permanently deployed on the conflict zone. Thus, craniocerebral war casualties are often managed by general surgeons in the mobile field surgical team. The objective of the study was to provide the feedback of French military surgeons who operated on craniocerebral injuries during their deployment in a role 2 surgical hospital without a neurosurgeon. ⋯ This survey demonstrates the feasibility and the plus-value of a neurosurgical damage control procedure performed on the field by a surgeon nonspecialized in cranial surgery. The stereotyped neurosurgical techniques used by the in-theater surgeon were learned during a specific predeployment training course. However, the use of a live telemedicine neurosurgical support seems indispensable and could benefit the general surgeon in strained resources setting.
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The leadership of Vista Forge 2022 requested evaluation of the handoff process between military assets and civilian emergency medical services (EMS) providers by the Beth Israel Deaconess Fellowship in Disaster Medicine (BIDMF). Vista Forge was a multi-agency military-civilian full-scale disaster exercise coordinated by the U.S. Military. The exercise, held in Atlanta, Georgia, simulated response to a nuclear bomb in an urban setting by military and civilian disaster teams. ⋯ Future studies should develop a standardized handoff procedure to be used in mass casualty situations, and trial it in future multi-agency disaster exercises. Radiation specific triage tags should be considered.
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Scand J Trauma Resus · Feb 2024
Randomized Controlled TrialImpact of emergency physician performed ultrasound in the evaluation of adult patients with acute abdominal pain: a prospective randomized bicentric trial.
Abdominal pain is common in patients visiting the emergency department (ED). The aim of this study was to assess the diagnostic contribution of point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) in patients presenting to the ED with acute abdominal pain. ⋯ In this trial, systematic POCUS did not improve the rate of diagnostic accuracy in unselected patients presenting to the ED with acute abdominal pain. However, as it was a safe procedure, further research should focus on patients with suspected etiologies where POCUS is particularly useful.