BMC emergency medicine
-
BMC emergency medicine · Jan 2015
Predictors for outcome among cardiac arrest patients: the importance of initial cardiac arrest rhythm versus time to return of spontaneous circulation, a retrospective cohort study.
In the past decade, early treatment of cardiac arrest (CA) victims has been improved in several ways, leading to more optimistic over all prognoses. However, the global survival rate after out-of-hospital CA (OHCA) is still not more than 5-10%. With a better knowledge of the predictors for outcome among CA patients, we can improve the management of CA, in order to strengthen the leads in the chain of survival. ⋯ We found significant predictors for both survival and neurological outcome, in which an initial rhythm of VT/VF and a cardiac etiology were the strongest.
-
Priority dispatch accuracy is a key issue in optimizing the match between patients' medical needs and pre-hospital resources. This study measures the accuracy of a Criteria Based Dispatch (CBD) system, by evaluating discrepancies between dispatch priorities and ambulance crews' severity evaluations. ⋯ The rates of over triage and under triage in our CBD are 78 and 4.6 % respectively. The lack of consistent or universal metrics is perhaps the most important limitation in dispatch accuracy research. This is mainly due to the large heterogeneity of dispatch systems and prehospital emergency system.
-
BMC emergency medicine · Jan 2015
Multicenter StudyCharacteristics of chest pain and its acute management in a low-middle income country: analysis of emergency department surveillance data from Pakistan.
Chest pain is one of the most frequent causes of emergency department (ED) visits in high-income countries. Little is known about chest pain patients presenting to EDs of low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The objective of this study was to describe the characteristics of chest pain patients presenting to emergency departments (EDs) of Pakistan and to determine the utilization of ED resources in the management of chest pain patients and their outcomes. ⋯ Chest pain is a common presenting complaint in EDs in Pakistan. The majority received an ECG and the use of diagnostic testing, such as cardiac enzymes, is quite uncommon.
-
BMC emergency medicine · Jan 2015
Multicenter StudyPattern of presenting complaints recorded as near-drowning events in emergency departments: a national surveillance study from Pakistan.
Drowning is a heavy burden on the health systems of many countries, including Pakistan. To date, no effective large-scale surveillance has been in place to estimate rates of drowning and near-drowning in Pakistan. The Pakistan National Emergency Department Surveillance (Pak-NEDS) study aimed to fill this gap. ⋯ There was major under-reporting of drowning and near-drowning cases in the surveillance study. The etiology of near-drowning cases should be further studied. Patients who experienced non-fatal drownings were more commonly sent for medical care due to other accompanying conditions, rather than near-drowning event itself. There is also need for recognizing true near-drowning incidents. The results of this study provide information on data source selection, site location, emergency care standardization, and multi-sector collaboration for future drowning prevention studies.