European journal of emergency medicine : official journal of the European Society for Emergency Medicine
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Bilateral chemical eye injuries are a common and important problem in the Emergency Department. Irrigation of both eyes can be time-consuming, so we present a novel, simple and cost-effective technique for hands-free bilateral eye irrigation. Modifications of a generic dual-lumen cannula adapter and fixation about the glabella allow sterile irrigation fluid to be delivered directly to the medial canthi of the contaminated eyes in a hands-free fashion. ⋯ Patients regain autonomy of movement to reposition themselves for comfort or to manipulate the eyelids for more effective irrigation. Clinicians are freed to tend to other tasks. By sharing this technique we hope to stimulate discussion on the safest and most effective method of irrigating chemically injured eyes and prompt the generation of comparable outcome data for the benefit of patients.
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As one of Europe's most densely populated countries with multiple nuclear installations and a prominent petrochemical industry, Belgium is at some reasonable risk for terrorist attacks or accidental chemical, biological, radiation, and nuclear (CBRN) incidents. We hypothesize that local hospitals are not sufficiently prepared to deal with these incidents. ⋯ There are serious gaps in hospital preparedness for CBRN incidents in Belgium. Lack of financial resources is a major obstacle in achieving sufficient preparedness.
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Blood gas analysers provide electrolyte and metabolic data. In the author's institution, these values were not used clinically because of the risk of inaccuracy. To discover whether this approach was warranted, we compared values from our Radiometer point-of-care (POC) analyser and the laboratory. ⋯ Thus, sodium and potassium showed negative bias on the Radiometer compared with the laboratory. Creatinine and haemoglobin agreed well. We advocate the clinical use of POC values when taken in clinical context.
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Comparative Study
Identification of adult septic patients in the prehospital setting: a comparison of two screening tools and clinical judgment.
Timely identification and treatment of sepsis is crucial for patient outcome. The aim of this study was to compare two previously unvalidated prehospital sepsis screening tools with clinical judgment by emergency medical services (EMS) personnel with respect to identification of septic patients. ⋯ The Robson screening tool had a sensitivity superior to both BAS 90-30-90 and clinical judgment. This supports our hypothesis that the implementation of a screening tool could lead to increased prehospital identification of sepsis, which may enable a more timely treatment of these patients.