Emergency medicine (Fremantle, W.A.)
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Emerg Med (Fremantle) · Mar 2002
Comparative StudyOutcome of emergency department patients with delayed admission to an intensive care unit.
To compare 30 day mortality, length of stay and cost for adult emergency department patients with a delay in intensive care unit admission of up to 24 h with a group of patients admitted directly from the emergency department to the intensive care unit. ⋯ Our study shows that patients transferred to the intensive care unit within 24 h of ward admission from the emergency department had a significant increase in 30 day mortality compared with patients admitted to the intensive care unit directly from the emergency department, but no difference was found in terms of length of stay and cost.
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To describe the triage of children in a sample of mixed and paediatric emergency departments in Australia in 1999 and to measure the inter-rater reliability of the National Triage Scale when used by triage nurses for the triage of paediatric patients. ⋯ Use of the National Triage Scale for the triage of paediatric patients by triage staff is not consistent and there are significant differences between the triage practices of paediatric and mixed emergency departments.
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Snake bite envenomation typically requires treatment with effective first aid and antivenom. There is a spectrum of envenomation seen, which includes mild envenomation, but this has not been reported previously. ⋯ The patients had a benign clinical course without receiving antivenom. We strongly recommend that if clinicians are considering not treating any envenomated patients with antivenom, they do so only on expert advice.
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Prehospital analgesia options for paramedics have been limited due to the difficulty in achieving safe and effective pain relief without compromising transportation to hospital. The present paper identifies the analgesia methods currently available in the prehospital setting so as to evaluate the various options and highlight areas for future research. ⋯ The evidence supporting analgesic options in the prehospital setting is limited. There are few published data in this area despite the inadequacy of pain relief being recognized as a weakness in prehospital care. Prehospital analgesia is an area worthy of innovative methods for the administration of safe and effective analgesics without significant impact on transport times. Such methods should be prospectively evaluated in well-constructed trials.
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Emerg Med (Fremantle) · Mar 2002
Comparative StudyPaediatric sedation in emergency department: what is our practice?
The aim of the present study was to document the use of sedation in paediatric patients in emergency departments within Australia and New Zealand. ⋯ There exists wide variation in practice regarding the use of sedation in children in emergency departments throughout Australia and New Zealand. Thus, the development of adequate guidelines, including discharge instructions and the use of topical agents, will improve sedation for children.