Emergency medicine Australasia : EMA
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Emerg Med Australas · Apr 2016
Randomized Controlled TrialDouble-dorsal versus single-volar digital subcutaneous anaesthetic injection for finger injuries in the emergency department: A randomised controlled trial.
The objective of this present study is to compare pain associated with the double-dorsal versus a single-volar subcutaneous injection in the provision of digital anaesthesia for finger injuries presenting to the ED. ⋯ In ED patients with finger injuries requiring digital anaesthesia, both the double-dorsal or single-volar subcutaneous injection techniques have similar pain of injection and success rates of anaesthesia. Single-volar injection appears suitable alternative to the commonly performed double-dorsal injection in the ED.
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Emerg Med Australas · Apr 2016
ReviewReview article: The utility of flexion-extension radiography for the detection of ligamentous cervical spine injury and its current role in the clearance of the cervical spine.
Detecting the presence of injuries to the cervical spine is an important component of the initial assessment of patients sustaining blunt trauma. A small proportion of cervical spine injuries consists of ligamentous disruption. Accurate detection of ligamentous injury is essential as it may result in sequelae including radiculopathy, quadriplegia and death. ⋯ There are studies that call into question the diagnostic accuracy of FE, the high proportion of inadequate FE images due to muscle spasm and the adverse effects of prolonged cervical collar immobilisation while awaiting FE. Other literature indicates that FE provides no additional diagnostic information following a multi-detector helical computed tomography. This review evaluates the literature on the utility of FE for the detection of ligamentous injury and explores alternate strategies for clearing the cervical spine of ligamentous injury.
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Emerg Med Australas · Apr 2016
Understanding drivers of Demand for Emergency Service Trends in Years 2010-2014 in New South Wales: An initial overview of the DESTINY project.
This study aims to describe the general characteristics and data definitions used in a population-based data set of ED presentations in New South Wales (NSW), used to form the basis of future-trend analyses. ⋯ The elderly population had the highest rate of ED attendances. The use of diverse diagnosis classifications and source information systems may present problems with further analysis. Patterns and characteristics of ED presentations in NSW were broadly consistent with those reported in other states in Australia.