Acta medica Iranica
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Acta medica Iranica · Jan 2014
Temporary abdominal closure in the critically ill patients with an open abdomen.
The emergent abdominal surgeries from either of traumatic or non traumatic causes can result in situations in which the abdominal wall cannot initially be closed. Many techniques have been reported for temporary coverage of the exposed viscera, but the result of various techniques remains unclear. During 94 months, 19 critically ill patients whit an open abdomen underwent surgery using plastic bags (Bogotá bag). ⋯ Only one (10.0%) patient underwent definitive closure within 6 months of initial operation. The remaining survivor has declined to have hernia repaired. Bogotá bag technique is a rapid, simple and inexpensive technique for temporary abdominal coverage.
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Acta medica Iranica · Jan 2014
Evaluation of emergency medicine residents competencies in electrocardiogram interpretation.
An electrocardiogram (ECG) leads physicians to diagnose many potentially life-threatening cardiac, metabolic, electrolyte, and toxicological conditions. This study was designed to evaluate the competency of emergency medicine residents (EMRs) in comparison with cardiologists in the interpretation of ECG when an interpretation checklist is used. This clinical trial was done in the emergency wards of the first grand general hospital of Iran. ⋯ In second-year EMRs, both ECG interpretation and ECG diagnosis scores improved significantly (P<0.05 and P<0.01, respectively). In third year EMRs, ECG interpretation was not improved but ECG diagnosis based on two methods improved significantly (P<0.05). The significant increase in accuracy of ECG interpretation and final diagnosis can be attributed to the utilization of a checklist by EMRs especially in the first year and second residents.
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Acta medica Iranica · Jan 2014
Investigating the effect of clinical governess approach on patients' length of stay in emergency department: an action research study.
Over the past decade, clinical governance approach with aims to improve the quality of health services has been proposed in Iran. Considering the obvious problems especially patients' length of stay (LOS) in the emergency departments (EDs); the present study has been carried out with the purpose of Investigating the effect of clinical governess approach on patients' LOS in the one of the largest medical centers in the country. After the problem was specified by the 17 interviews with employees and managers of the ED; the emergency clinical governance committee was formed by two academic researchers and seven ED staff (key participants) that had the most involvement with the subject of study. ⋯ Make regular patients visits by medical groups especially orthopedists and neurologists; Decision making about patients situation by emergency physicians and transferring patients to the relevant units by bed managers; Refusing to admit elective patients during overcrowding times; to regulate the list of patients requiring ICU by anesthesiologists. Prolonged LOS can be due to various causes and a team approach, which is one of the requirements of clinical governance approach, is needed to manage it. The results showed that the multidisciplinary team could make positive changes and reduce LOS in emergency setting.