Emergency medicine (Fremantle, W.A.)
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Emerg Med (Fremantle) · Mar 2001
Implementation and evaluation of an undergraduate emergency medicine curriculum.
To describe the implementation and evaluation of an undergraduate course in the first Australian academic emergency medicine unit. ⋯ Undergraduate emergency medicine education should become an essential part of Australian and international undergraduate medical education. Emergency medicine is enjoyable and eminently suitable for problem-based, interactive and integrated teaching and improves confidence, clinical experience in emergencies, practical skills and teamwork. Improvements include more problem-based teaching, more practical skills sessions and better definition of student roles. These are general principles that can be applied to other undergraduate courses and to designers of other emergency medicine courses, both undergraduate and postgraduate.
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Emerg Med (Fremantle) · Mar 2001
Setting the benchmark for research in the management of acute pain in emergency departments.
The aim of this study was to define the degree of change on a visual analogue scale that corresponded to a clinically meaningful reduction in the level of pain reported by patients experiencing acute pain. ⋯ When evaluating treatments for acute pain, a difference in visual analogue scale pain score of less than about 20 mm is unlikely to be clinically meaningful. Studies should be designed and reported relative to this benchmark rather than the minimum clinically significant difference in visual analogue scale pain score.
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To observe the impact of trained non-medical technicians on emergency department waiting times. The technicians were to perform minor procedures that had previously been performed by medical staff. ⋯ When added to the normal staff complement, non-medical technicians reduce patient waiting times in the emergency department.
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Emerg Med (Fremantle) · Mar 2001
Pulse rate over pressure evaluation (ROPE) is useful in the assessment of compensated haemorrhagic shock.
To evaluate a calculation of pulse rate over pulse pressure as a method of predicting decompensation in patients with compensated haemorrhagic shock. ⋯ ROPE is an easily applied and useful clinical tool with a ROPE of less than 3.0 being predictive of a patient remaining well and a ROPE of above 3.0 being predictive of the patient developing decompensated shock.