Can J Emerg Med
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The San Francisco Syncope Rule (SFSR) aims to identify patients with syncope who are at risk for short-term serious adverse outcomes. It has been reported to have high sensitivity and the potential to decrease admission rates. The aim of this study was to validate the SFSR in the Australasian setting. ⋯ The SFSR demonstrated 90% sensitivity in this validation study. Strict application of the SFSR would have increased hospital admissions but would not have identified all adverse outcomes. In our setting, clinician judgement performed as well as the syncope rule, with a baseline admission rate of 36%.
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The optimal approach to airway management in penetrating neck injuries (PNIs) remains controversial. The primary objective of this study was to review the method of endotracheal intubation in PNI at a Canadian tertiary trauma centre. Secondarily, we sought to determine the incidence of PNI in our trauma population and to describe the epidemiologic elements of this population. ⋯ There is clear variability of airway management in PNI. We believe that such patients represent a heterogeneous group where the attending physician must have a conservative yet varied approach to airway management based on the individual clinical scenario.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Impact of a standardized communication system on continuity of care between family physicians and the emergency department.
It has been suggested that continuity of care is hampered because of the lack of communication between emergency departments (EDs) and primary care providers. A web-based, standardized communication system (SCS) that enables family physicians (FPs) to visualize information regarding their patients' ED visits was developed. This paper aims to evaluate the impact of this SCS on continuity of care. ⋯ The use of SCS between an ED and FPs led to significant improvements in continuity of care by increasing the usefulness of transferred information and by improving FPs' perceived patient knowledge and patient management.