Emergency medicine Australasia : EMA
-
Emerg Med Australas · Aug 2021
Observational StudyAssociation between shift work and cognitive performance on the Trail Making Test in emergency department health officers.
Shift work has been proposed to disturb alertness and decrease cognitive efficiency. However, studies so far have had varied findings. The aim of the present study was to compare cognitive function following shifts at different times of the day in an Australian ED context. ⋯ Night shift work was associated with a longer TMT time. This may indicate a decrease in cognitive performance, in particular, visual attention, processing speed, task switching and executive function and may implicate the quality of care for patients and worker safety.
-
Emerg Med Australas · Aug 2021
Observational StudyKetamine as a rescue treatment for severe acute behavioural disturbance: A prospective prehospital study.
Rapidly and safely managing severe acute behavioural disturbance (ABD) in the prehospital setting is important for the welfare of both patient and prehospital clinician alike. We investigated the safety and effectiveness of ketamine as rescue sedation in patients with severe ABD. ⋯ The use of ketamine as rescue sedation in prehospital patients with severe ABD is effective. Adverse events are common but can be managed supportively.
-
Emerg Med Australas · Aug 2021
ReviewReview article: Emergency department crowding measures associations with quality of care: A systematic review.
ED crowding has been reported to reduce the quality of care. There are many proposed crowding metrics, but the metric most strongly associated with care quality remains unknown. The present study aims to determine the crowding metric with the strongest links with processes and outcomes of care linked to the Institute of Medicine quality domains. ⋯ ED length of stay, boarding time and total occupancy had the strongest association with safety and effectiveness of care. ED length of stay was also associated with equity. The certainty of evidence for associations between crowding measures varied across domains of quality, from very low to moderate certainty.