Emergency medicine Australasia : EMA
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Emerg Med Australas · Dec 2015
Survey of point of care ultrasound usage in emergency medicine by Vietnamese physicians.
Emergency medicine (EM) is rapidly developing as a specialty in Vietnam. Point of care ultrasound (POCUS) is currently taught as part of formal EM curriculums though limited literature exists to describe current POCUS usage in EDs in Vietnam. A survey was developed to understand current POCUS utilisation and guide future training efforts. ⋯ Regular access to ultrasound machines increases the frequency of POCUS usage in EDs in Vietnam. POCUS training was not as clearly associated with POCUS usage as those without formal training were equally likely to use POCUS as those with formal training. No single POCUS application stood out as strongly preferred by physicians in this survey.
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Emerg Med Australas · Dec 2015
Management of acute agitation in Hong Kong and comparisons with Australasia.
Little is known about the use of sedation drugs for the management of acute agitation in Hong Kong's Accident and Emergency Departments (AEDs) and how it compares with Australasian practice. ⋯ Haloperidol and benzodiazepines are frequently used as monotherapy for the management of acute agitation in Hong Kong's AEDs. Management in Hong Kong differs from Australasian practice in that combination therapy is less common and clinicians' choice of sedation drugs are less variable overall. Results suggest that future work on CPG development and training regarding the safe use of combination therapy would be well received.
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Emerg Med Australas · Dec 2015
Dispatcher-assisted cardiopulmonary resuscitation protocol improves diagnosis and resuscitation recommendations for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.
Despite recent efforts, most people are not trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), which has a major impact on survival following cardiac arrest (CA). We have set up a dispatcher-assisted CPR protocol at our call centre, based on international guidelines issued in 2010. The aim of our study was to evaluate the impact of this protocol on CA diagnosis and quantity of recommendations given by telephone dispatchers to untrained witnesses. ⋯ Implementation of a dispatcher-assisted CPR protocol was efficient in improving both CA diagnosis and CPR recommendations given to untrained witnesses for out-of-hospital CA with a very short time of dispatcher training. It is a simple and efficacious measure, at no additional cost and with the promises of improving prognosis following cardiac arrest in a centre not equipped with computerised dispatcher support programmes.
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Emerg Med Australas · Dec 2015
Best-practice pain management in the emergency department: A cluster-randomised, controlled, intervention trial.
We aimed to provide 'adequate analgesia' (which decreases the pain score by ≥2 and to <4 [0-10 scale]) and determine the effect on patient satisfaction. ⋯ The 'adequate analgesia' intervention significantly improved patient satisfaction. It provides a simple and efficient target in the pursuit of best-practice ED pain management.