Annals of emergency medicine
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The emergency department of the future will require the effective integration of information technologies into clinical care. This article proposes strategies for improving information management in emergency medicine to facilitate patient care, public health surveillance, clinical research, medical education, and health care management. [Cordell WH, Overhage JM, Waeckerle JF, for the Information Management Work Group: Strategies for improving information management in emergency medicine to meet clinical, research, and administrative needs. Ann Emerg Med February 1998;31:172-178.].
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In 1994, the Department of Transportation made endotracheal intubation an optional EMT-Basic skill. To data, there have been no studies addressing the ability of this group to learn or perform this skill. We used a standarized mannequin test to perform a prospective evaluation of this intubation skills of basic EMTs immediately after a 4-hour course on endotracheal intubation. We hypothesized that the intubation success rates would be comparable with those of other types of providers newly trained in this skill. ⋯ This 4-hour class trained basic EMTs to perform endotracheal intubation on mannequins with a success rate of 94%. Further research should confirm the ability of EMT-Basics to detect esophageal intubation and address the retention of intubation skills, the applicability of these skills to the field, and the components of this course that were responsible for its success.
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[Runge JW: NHTSA Notes commentary: Cell phones and the multi-tasking driver. Ann Emerg Med February 1998;31:279-280.].
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[National Highway Traffic Safety Administration: Wireless telephones in cars. Ann Emerg Med February 1998;31:278-279.].
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See editorial, p 274. Variations in the way that data are entered in emergency department record systems impede the use of ED records for direct patient care and deter their reuse for many other legitimate purposes. To foster more uniform ED data, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Injury Prevention and Control is coordinating a public-private partnership that has developed recommended specifications for many observations, actions, instructions, conclusions, and identifiers that are entered in ED records. ⋯ If the recommended specifications are widely adopted, then problems-such as data incompatibility and high costs of collecting, linking, and using data-can be substantially reduced. The collaborative effort that led to DEEDS, Release 1.0 sets a precedent for future review and revision of the initial recommendations. [DEEDS Writing Committee: Data Elements for Emergency Department Systems, Release 1.0 (DEEDS): A summary report. Ann Emerg Med February 1998;31:264-273.].