Articles: emergency-services.
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Comparative Study
Use of the emergency ambulance service to an inner city accident and emergency department--a comparison of general practitioner and '999' calls.
Over a 2-week period a prospective study was undertaken of patients brought to an inner city accident and emergency department by the emergency ambulance service. Criteria for assessing the appropriateness of use of the emergency ambulance service are not well defined and at worst entirely subjective. The author's finding that, of patients attending after a '999' call, 49.8% were discharged with no follow-up suggests that many of these journeys represented inappropriate use of the emergency ambulance service. Close liaison between senior medical staff and the emergency ambulance service may allow more appropriate and effective use of the service, improving patient care in the pre-hospital setting.
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The majority of attempts to resuscitate victims of prehospital cardiopulmonary arrest are unsuccessful, and patients are frequently transported to the emergency department for further resuscitation efforts. We evaluated the efficacy and costs of continued hospital resuscitation for patients in whom resuscitation efforts outside the hospital have failed. ⋯ In general, continued resuscitation efforts in the emergency department for victims of cardiopulmonary arrest in whom prehospital resuscitation has failed are not worthwhile, and they consume precious institutional and economic resources without gain.
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Emerg. Med. Clin. North Am. · Nov 1991
ReviewQuality assurance for the radiology-emergency interface.
Quality assurance does not have to be a dirty word. Developing indicators, identifying trends, taking action, and reassessing the results can significantly benefit the technical and nursing staff, emergency physicians, radiologists, and, especially, the patients.