World journal of emergency medicine
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Appendicitis is a common disease requiring surgery. Bedside ultrasound (BUS) is a core technique for emergency medicine (EM). The Alvarado score is a well-studied diagnostic tool for appendicitis. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between patients' symptoms, Alvarado score and ultrasound (US) findings, as performed by emergency physicians (EPs) and radiologists, of patients with suspected appendicitis. ⋯ BUS performed by EPs is moderately useful in detecting appendicitis. Combined with scoring systems, BUS may be a perfect tool for ruling out decisions in EDs.
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True alarm rate of the Code Blue cases is at a low level in the Dr. Behçet Uz Children's Hospital in İzmir. This study aims to analyse the use of the Code Blue alarm cases in the children's hospital. ⋯ The results of this study show that more education is required for the hospital's staff and a new color code that is to say pre-diagnosis team should be formed.
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Communication failure in prehospital emergency medicine can affect patient safety as it does in other areas of medicine as well. We analyzed the database of the critical incident reporting system for prehospital emergency medicine in Germany retrospectively regarding communication errors. ⋯ Communication deficits can lead to critical incidents in prehospital emergency medicine and are a very important aspect in patient safety.
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In 2013 a General Practitioner Cooperative (GPC) was introduced at the Emergency Department (ED) of our hospital. One of the aims of this co-located GPC was to improve throughput of the remaining patients at the ED. To determine the change in patient flow, we assessed the number of self-referrals, redirection of self-referrals to the GPC and back to the ED, as well as ward and ICU admission rates and length of stay of the remaining ED population. ⋯ Introduction of a GPC led to efficient redirection of self-referrals but failed to improve throughput of the remaining patients at the ED.
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The appropriate sequence of different imagings and indications of thoracic computed tomography (TCT) in evaluating chest trauma have not yet been clarified at present. The current study was undertaken to determine the value of chest X-ray (CXR) in detecting chest injuries in patients with blunt trauma. ⋯ CXR remains to be the first choice in hemodynamically unstable patients with blunt chest trauma. Moreover, stable patients with normal CXR are candidates who should undergo TCT if significant injury has not been ruled out.