Emergency medicine Australasia : EMA
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Emerg Med Australas · Aug 2014
ReviewReview article: Emergency department data sharing to reduce alcohol-related violence: A systematic review of the feasibility and effectiveness of community-level interventions.
The present paper aims to review current evidence for the effectiveness and/or feasibility of using inter-agency data sharing of ED recorded assault information to direct interventions reducing alcohol-related or nightlife assaults, injury or violence. Potential data-sharing partners involve police, local council, liquor licensing regulators and venue management. A systematic review of the peer-reviewed literature was conducted. ⋯ Negative logistic feasibility concerns were minimal, with general consensus among authors being that data-sharing protocols and partnerships could be easily implemented into modern ED triage systems, with minimal cost, staff workload burden, impact to patient safety, service and anonymity, or risk of harm displacement to other licensed venues, or increase to length of patient stay. However, one study reported a potential harm displacement effect to streets surrounding intervention venues. In future, data-sharing systems should triangulate ED, police and ambulance data sources, and assess intervention effectiveness using randomised controlled trials that account for variations in venue capacity, fluctuations in ED attendance and population levels, seasonal variations in assault and injury, and control for concurrent interventions.
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Emerg Med Australas · Aug 2014
Trainee perspectives on usefulness of the Trainee Research Requirement.
To determine trainee perspectives of the utility of a trainee research project (TRP) or the coursework pathway (CP) in completing the Trainee Research Requirement of the ACEM. ⋯ More ACEM trainees are undertaking the CP compared with a TRP. The CP was associated with better self-reported fulfilment of the ACEM learning objectives for research. There is scope for the ACEM to improve the experience of trainees wishing to undertake their own research projects.
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Emerg Med Australas · Aug 2014
Prehospital management of supraventricular tachycardia in Victoria, Australia: Epidemiology and effectiveness of therapies.
The present study examined patient demographics, characteristics and the effectiveness of current prehospital supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) management by ambulance paramedics in Victoria, Australia. ⋯ Patient characteristics associated with SVT are more likely to be middle-aged women with a history of hypertension and hypercholesterolaemia. Therapies were underutilised leading to reduced clinical guideline effectiveness. Where therapies were instigated, reversion rates are greater than previously reported.
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Emerg Med Australas · Aug 2014
Observational StudyPredicting admission of patients by their presentation to the emergency department.
The present study aims to determine the importance of certain factors in predicting the need of hospital admission for a patient in the ED. ⋯ Certain characteristics of patients as they present to hospital predict their admission. The accuracy of the triage nurses' prediction for disposition of patients is the same as that afforded by a model constructed from these characteristics. Blood test results improve disposition accuracy only slightly so admission decisions should not always wait for these results.