Emergency medicine Australasia : EMA
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Emerg Med Australas · Feb 2021
Incidence, bystander emergency response management and outcomes of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest at exercise and sport facilities in Australia.
Despite growing emphasis on automated external defibrillators (AEDs) at sport venues in Australia, the risk of cardiac events at such locations is unknown. The aim of the present study was to investigate the incidence of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) at exercise and sport facilities (ESF) in Australia and the impact of effective bystander-initiated CPR and AED use on return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) to hospital admission. ⋯ These findings have implications for policy development by government agencies and major sport and exercise organisations to improve bystander CPR and AED. This can help to ensure that ESF can properly respond to cardiac emergencies to save lives.
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Emerg Med Australas · Feb 2021
Core components of a staff wellness strategy in emergency departments: A clinician-informed nominal group study.
Busy, high-stress EDs prompt many work-based interventions to address staff wellness, with mixed success. The aim of the present study was to enable ED clinicians to systematically identify core components of a work-based strategy to improve their working environment and/or coping. ⋯ Ensuring appropriate systems, services and support for ED staff should be a priority at local departmental, wider organisational and governmental levels. ED clinicians are ideally placed to identify such systems, services and supports. Managers and policy makers can use these findings to inform the implementation of interventions in EDs.
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Emerg Med Australas · Feb 2021
Evaluating an emergency department-based mental health liaison nurse service: A multi-site translational research project.
We aimed to translate and evaluate a model of mental health liaison nursing (MHLN) care that was embedded within EDs. ⋯ Findings from the present study indicate that a model of ED-based MHLN care developed in a metropolitan setting was successfully translated to two rural sites. However, the model needs to adhere to certain key principles, and be adequately resourced in order to be sustainable and improve outcomes for ED patients and access to community care.
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Emerg Med Australas · Feb 2021
Neurologic outcomes following the introduction of a policy for using soft cervical collars in suspected traumatic cervical spine injury: A retrospective chart review.
In trauma patients with potential cervical spine injury, immobilisation with a rigid cervical collar is widely recommended to prevent a secondary spinal cord injury. There is a lack of evidence for the effectiveness of this practice, but increasing evidence for complications from rigid collars. Soft foam collars may mitigate some of these issues and are used in our health service in place of rigid collars in selected patients at risk for traumatic cervical spine injury. The objective of the present study was to describe the neurological outcome of patients according to the cervical stabilisation technique used. ⋯ The use of soft foam cervical collars in patients at risk for a cervical spine injury does not appear to increase the risk for secondary spinal cord injury but larger prospective studies are required before a robust conclusion on safety can be claimed.