Emergency medicine Australasia : EMA
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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
ReviewReview article: Very serious and non-ignorable problem: Crisis in emergency medical response in catastrophic event.
The crisis of medical response caused by catastrophic events might significantly affect emergency response, and might even initiate more serious social crisis. Therefore, early identification and timely blocking the formation of crisis in the early phase after a major disaster will improve the efficiency of medical response in a major disaster and avoid serious consequences. In the present paper, we described the emergency strategy to crisis management of medical response after a major disaster. ⋯ First, all relevant society forces led by the government and military should be linkages. Second, a powerful medical response system must be based on a strong support system. Third, countermeasures of medical surge should be applied flexibly to the special and specific disaster environment, to promote the effective medical response force.
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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
Public health in Australasian emergency departments: Attitudes, barriers and current practices.
To understand the attitudes of consultant emergency medicine physicians and advanced trainees and the perceived barriers to public health interventions in Australasian EDs. ⋯ Public health and health promotion are perceived by the majority of emergency medicine physicians as important in emergency medicine; however, substantial barriers exists to their implementation. Development of an evidence-based approach to public health interventions, which are effective and feasible in the ED environment, will facilitate a more comprehensive approach to public health initiatives in emergency medicine.