Emergency medicine Australasia : EMA
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Emerg Med Australas · Dec 2011
Teaching medical students to resuscitate children: an innovative two-part programme.
The objective of the present study was to design and evaluate a novel, 'blended learning' approach to the teaching of paediatric resuscitation to medical students. ⋯ A novel paediatric resuscitation course for medical students was developed and evaluated. This demonstrated significant objective improvements in student knowledge throughout the course, at course completion and at 8 month follow up. There were also significant subjective improvements in knowledge, confidence and ability to perform paediatric resuscitation.
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Emerg Med Australas · Dec 2011
Sedation assessment tool to score acute behavioural disturbance in the emergency department.
The objective of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the sedation assessment tool (SAT) in assessing patient response to treatment for acute behavioural disturbance (ABD). ⋯ The SAT is a simple, rapid and useful measure of the level of agitation/sedation in patients with ABD. Increases in the score reliably indicated the need for further sedation.
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Some major trauma (Injury Severity Score [ISS] >15) patients transported to a secondary hospital in Perth do not survive. We sought to describe this cohort and assess preventability. ⋯ The proportion of potentially preventable major trauma deaths at Perth secondary hospitals is low. The most notable group were the elderly after falls, and trauma system efforts should be focused on this group. Primary prevention of major trauma represents the biggest opportunity for improvements in trauma survival.
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Emerg Med Australas · Dec 2011
Optimal management of mental health patients in Australian emergency departments: barriers and solutions.
The study aimed to describe: (i) the perceived barriers faced by emergency clinicians in the assessment and management of patients presenting with a mental health complaint to Australian hospital EDs; and (ii) perceived strategies to optimize care of the mentally unwell in the ED. ⋯ Although the provision of timely and quality care is expected for all patients attending EDs, there exist multiple barriers to provision of adequate care for ED patients presenting with mental illness. Many of these are systems-based and thus require systems-based solutions. ED clinician's perceive that improved educational opportunities in mental health, however, might alleviate some barriers they face. Consideration should be given to a comprehensive, quantitative mental health-related learning needs analysis of ED clinicians.
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Emerg Med Australas · Dec 2011
Impact of technical assistants for venepuncture and intravenous cannulation on overall emergency department performance.
The objective of the article was to determine the effect of a technical assistant for venepuncture and i.v. cannulation on triage performance and patient length of stay in an ED. ⋯ Staffing the ED with a technical assistant was associated with improved ED performance for triage category three and average length of stay for triage category two patients.