Emergency medicine Australasia : EMA
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Emerg Med Australas · Oct 2005
Case ReportsUnusual cause of sudden onset headache: spontaneous intracranial hypotension.
Spontaneous intracranial hypotension is a very distinctive but unusual cause of acute headache. The postural nature of the headache can be easily overlooked in the celerity to exclude subarachnoid haemorrhage. We describe the clinical and radiological features of a case that emphasizes some of the diagnostic difficulties. An approach to management and treatment for this condition is outlined.
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Emerg Med Australas · Oct 2005
Non-urgent presentations to a paediatric emergency department: parental behaviours, expectations and outcomes.
To identify factors that influence the attendance of children with non-urgent medical problems to a tertiary paediatric ED and to define parental expectations of the hospital visit. ⋯ The expectations of parents who attend the paediatric ED with children who have non-urgent chronic complaints are high. Rapid access to outpatient clinics might provide an acceptable alternative for these patients, and free valuable ED resources.
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Emerg Med Australas · Oct 2005
Factors associated with walkout of patients from New South Wales hospital emergency departments, Australia.
To explore the association between daily patient numbers, sociodemographic, clinical and system characteristics and walkout rates of patients from New South Wales (NSW) public hospital ED (without seeing a medical officer). ⋯ After adjusting for triage category (urgency of presentation) and triage time, patients from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and those without private health insurance coverage were more likely to leave ED without treatment. These results have important implications for Health Services. Future strategies aimed at minimizing walkouts from public hospital ED should prioritize and target factors identified in the present study.
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Emerg Med Australas · Oct 2005
Comparative StudyImpact on patients triage distribution utilizing the Australasian Triage Scale compared with its predecessor the National Triage Scale.
To assess the impact of the change from the National Triage Scale (NTS) to the Australasian Triage Scale (ATS) within a hospital ED. ⋯ The revision of the ATS has had a significant impact on the triage distribution of patients who present to ED. The change of distribution might have implications for meeting performance criteria and assessing casemix.