Emergency medicine Australasia : EMA
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Emerg Med Australas · Apr 2017
Feeling the HEAT: Using Hourly Emergency Activity Tracking to demonstrate a novel method of describing activity and patient flow.
The objective of the present study is to demonstrate a novel method of mapping ED activity to analyse patterns presentations, occupancy and performance trends. ⋯ HEAT maps may be used to facilitate further analyses of ED demand, patterns of patient presentations and patient flow and future health system redesign.
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Emerg Med Australas · Apr 2017
Paramedic resuscitation competency: A survey of Australian and New Zealand emergency medical services.
We have previously established that paramedic exposure to out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is relatively rare, therefore clinical exposure cannot be relied on to maintain resuscitation competency. We aimed to identify the current practices within emergency medical services (EMS) for developing and maintaining paramedic resuscitation competency. ⋯ All of the surveyed EMS provided initial resuscitation training to paramedics, but competency testing and refresher training practices varied between services. A lack of individual exposure to cardiac arrest and training time were identified as barriers to resuscitation competency.
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Emerg Med Australas · Apr 2017
Observational StudyRetrospective review of Prothrombinex use by SAAS MedSTAR.
The aim of this study was to review and describe the use of Prothrombinex by a physician-led retrieval service based remote from a hospital blood bank. ⋯ Prothrombinex is a clinically useful product that can be relatively easily stored and used by retrieval services, even if they are based in isolation from a hospital blood bank. More research is required to look at the utility of Prothrombinex for non-warfarin-related bleeding in the pre-hospital and retrieval environment.
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Emerg Med Australas · Apr 2017
Computed tomography for head injuries in children: Change in Australian usage rates over time.
Paediatric head injury is a common presentation to the ED. North American studies demonstrate increasing use of computed tomography (CT) brain scan (CTB) to investigate head injury. No such data exists for Australian EDs. The aim of this study was to describe CTB use in head injury over time in eight Australian EDs. ⋯ CTB use in head injuries did not increase during the study period, and rates of CTB were less than reported for North America.