Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
-
The patient with epidural hematoma and cerebral herniation has a good prognosis with immediate drainage, but a poor prognosis with delay to decompression. Such patients who present to nonneurosurgical hospitals are commonly transferred without drainage to the nearest neurosurgical center. This practice has never been demonstrated to be the safest approach to treating these patients. A significant minority of emergency physicians (EPs) have advised and taught bedside burr hole drainage or skull trephination before transfer for herniating patients. The objective of this study was to assess the effect of nonneurosurgeon drainage on neurologic outcome in patients with cerebral herniation from epidural hematoma. ⋯ Although the total number of patients is small and the population highly selected, the natural history of cerebral herniation from epidural hematoma and the best available evidence suggests that herniating patients have improved outcomes with drainage procedures before transport.
-
As the specialty of emergency medicine evolves in countries around the world, and as interest in international emergency medicine (IEM) grows within the United States, the IEM Literature Review Group recognizes an ongoing need for a high-quality, consolidated, and easily accessible evidence base of literature. The IEM Literature Review Group produces an annual publication that strives to provide readers with access to the highest quality and most relevant IEM research from the previous year. ⋯ Articles were selected for the review according to explicit, predetermined criteria that emphasize both methodologic quality and impact of the research. It is our hope that this annual review acts as a forum for disseminating best practices, while also stimulating further research in the field of IEM.
-
Emergency medicine (EM) in North America has been undergoing significant transformation since the new century. Recent health care reform has put it center stage. Access demand for acute care is increasing at the same time the number of qualified emergency physicians entering service has reached a plateau. Physician assistants (PAs), one alternative, are employed in emergency departments (EDs), but little is known about the impact of their role. ⋯ The use of PAs in EDs is increasing, and this expansion is due to necessity in staffing and economy of scale. Unique uses of PAs include wound management, acute care transfer management to the wards, and rural health emergency staffing. While their role seems to be expanding, this assessment identified gaps in deployment research using appropriate outcome measures in the area of clinical effectiveness of PAs.