Emergency medicine Australasia : EMA
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Emerg Med Australas · Dec 2023
ReviewReview article: Scoping review of the characteristics and outcomes of adults presenting to the emergency department during heatwaves.
As a result of climate change heatwaves are expected to increase in frequency and intensity and will have detrimental impacts on human health globally. EDs are often the critical point of care for acute heat illnesses and other conditions associated with heat exposure. Existing literature has focused on heatwave-related hospitalisation and mortality. ⋯ Outcomes including hospitalisation and mortality rates after ED admissions showed positive associations with heatwaves. The heatwaves resulting from climate change will place increasing demands on EDs providing care for increasingly susceptible populations. Significant public heatwave planning across multiple sectors is required to reduce the risk of overwhelming EDs with these patients.
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Emerg Med Australas · Dec 2023
Modelled economic evaluation of a virtual emergency department in Victoria.
Virtual ED (VED) can potentially alleviate ED overcrowding which has been a public health challenge. The aim of the present study was to conduct a return-on-investment analysis of a VED programme developed in response to changing healthcare needs in Australia. ⋯ The VED was cost neutral in a conservatively modelled scenario but promising if any hospital admission could be saved. Ongoing research examining a larger cohort with community follow up is required to confirm this promising result.
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Emerg Med Australas · Dec 2023
Comparative StudyComparison of first-pass intubation success rates between two different videolaryngoscopes in an Australian prehospital and retrieval medicine service.
To determine the effectiveness of the GlideScope Go videolaryngoscope (VL) in tracheal intubation in an Australian physician-staffed critical care prehospital and retrieval medicine service. ⋯ We demonstrated that first-pass success rates with the GlideScope Go are at least as good as our service had achieved with both the McGrath Mac and with direct laryngoscopy.