Emergency medicine Australasia : EMA
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Emerg Med Australas · Oct 2013
Observational StudyFireworks injuries in children: A prospective study during the festival of lights.
We studied the epidemiology of paediatric firework-related injury in the urban population of Delhi during the festival of lights (Diwali). ⋯ We recommend parental supervision especially for males, wearing non-synthetic and non-flowing clothes, promoting branded crackers and educational campaigns in schools to curtail the rising trend in firework-related injuries in the paediatric population.
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Emerg Med Australas · Oct 2013
Improvement in emergency department length of stay using an early senior medical assessment and streaming model of care: A cohort study.
Australian EDs are required to conform to the National Emergency Access Target (NEAT): patients must be discharged within 4 h of arrival. The aim of the present study was to determine if a model of care called Senior Assessment and Streaming (SAS) would increase the proportion of patients achieving NEAT. ⋯ Through the introduction of SAS, the present study has demonstrated that providing early senior medical assessment can improve an ED's ability to meet NEAT.
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Emerg Med Australas · Oct 2013
Accuracy of computed tomography of the kidneys, ureters and bladder interpretation by emergency physicians.
The study aims to determine the interpretation accuracy of computed tomography of the kidneys, ureters and bladder (CT-KUB) by emergency physicians (EPs) compared with the formal radiology report, as the reference standard, in patients with suspected acute urinary tract calculous disease. ⋯ EPs can accurately detect clinically significant acute calculous disease and signs of obstruction on CT-KUB, allowing for ongoing acute management and early disposition of the patient. However, their findings should be verified against the formal radiology report when available.
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Emerg Med Australas · Oct 2013
A cohort study of chest pain patients discharged from the emergency department for early outpatient treadmill exercise stress testing.
Guidelines on intermediate-risk chest pain, based on consensus alone, recommend inpatient provocative testing after infarct exclusion. Inpatient testing exceeds capacity in many hospitals, so guidelines concede outpatient testing within 72 h is acceptable. We performed a cohort study of chest pain patients having early outpatient treadmill exercise stress testing (EST). ⋯ Outpatient treadmill EST an average of 10 days post-discharge from emergency with chest pain did not result in adverse events despite reasonably high positive stress test rates. Consensus-based recommendations for inpatient testing or outpatient testing within 72 h of discharge should be reviewed in light of these data.