European journal of emergency medicine : official journal of the European Society for Emergency Medicine
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To assess the diagnostic performance of the NG-Test human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) WB, which is a new point-of-care (POC) hCG whole-blood test. ⋯ The NG-Test hCG WB showed a high sensitivity, specificity, PPV, and NPV. Its use as triage in the case of a negative pelvic ultrasound exam is a potential strategy to improve patient flow, with an average time saving of 85 min.
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We evaluated the effectiveness of the Subacute Ambulatory care for the Functionally challenged and Elderly (SAFE) programme, a post-emergency department (ED) discharge intervention for elderly and functionally challenged patients, in reducing acute hospital admissions. ⋯ The SAFE programme was effective in reducing first acute hospital admissions in selected elderly and functionally challenged patients after ED discharge at 30 and 60 days compared with usual ED discharge care.
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Prehospital critical care teams comprising an appropriately trained physician and paramedic or nurse have been associated with improved outcomes in selected trauma patients. These teams are a scarce and expensive resource, especially when delivered by rotary air assets. The optimal tasking of prehospital critical care teams is therefore vital and remains a subject of debate. Emergency Medical Retrieval Service (EMRS) provides a prehospital critical care response team to incidents over a large area of Scotland either by air or by road. ⋯ Overall, our data show a wide geographical spread of tasking for our service, which is in keeping with other suburban/rural models of prehospital care. Tasking accuracy is also comparable to the accuracy shown by other similar services.
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Triage is a key principle in the effective management of a major incident. Its effectiveness is a balance between identifying those in need of life-saving intervention, and those triaged incorrectly as either needing/not needing a life-saving intervention. The primary aim of this study was to report mortality in those under-triaged by existing major incident triage tools. Secondary aims were to report the ability of triage tools at identifying serious injury by body region (defined as an Abbreviated Injury Scale severity score≥3). ⋯ This study has defined the implications of under-triage in the context of a major trauma population. The MPTT misses fewer severely injured patients, with a significant reduction in mortality. We suggest the MPTT to be considered as an alternative to existing primary major incident triage tools.