Emergency medicine Australasia : EMA
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Emerg Med Australas · Aug 2006
Comparative StudyEmergency nurse practitioner care and emergency department patient flow: case-control study.
The present study aimed to compare ED waiting times (for medical assessment and treatment), treatment times and length of stay (LOS) for patients managed by an emergency nurse practitioner candidate (ENPC) with patients managed via traditional ED care. ⋯ Patient flow outcomes for ENPC managed patients are comparable with those of patients managed via usual ED processes.
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Emerg Med Australas · Aug 2006
Comparative StudyVariability in agreement between physicians and nurses when measuring the Glasgow Coma Scale in the emergency department limits its clinical usefulness.
To assess the interrater reliability of the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) between nurses and senior doctors in the ED. ⋯ Although the level of agreement for GCS scores was generally high, a significant proportion of patients had GCS scores which differed by two or more points. This degree of disagreement indicates that clinical decisions should not be based solely on single GCS scores.