Emergency medicine journal : EMJ
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To determine the true impact of emergency care practitioners (ECPs) on admissions relative to emergency department (ED) attendance. ⋯ ECPs help to prevent attendances and admissions by delivery of clinical care and assessment at point of access to health care beyond that traditionally provided by UK ambulance services. This study was limited in scope owing to the difficulties in ensuring an accurate comparison group.
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Ovarian torsion is a well known but poorly recognised disease and prompt treatment is necessary to avoid adverse outcomes. We report a patient with severe right flank pain initially diagnosed as renal colic. ⋯ Because of the timely management, the patient made a good recovery. This is an uncommon but important case that emergency physicians should be aware of.
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Comparative Study
Comparison of mean on-scene times: road versus air transportation of critically ill patients in the Western Cape of South Africa.
The South African setting lends itself to the extensive use of air transport. There is a perception with healthcare providers that flight crews spend too much time with a patient before departure. The main advantage of aero medical transport is to minimise the delay to definitive care and prolonged on-scene time defies this objective. A study was carried out to examine the mean on-scene times of aero medical and road transport of critically ill patients in the Western Cape of South Africa. ⋯ The on-scene time for transport missions by road is significantly less than for those done by air. There are significant differences between scene and inter-facility missions in both transport modes. Capacity building programmes with ongoing education and training of staff at referring facilities should be implemented.
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A crossover study was performed in healthy volunteers to compare the efficacy of a self-inflating bag with the Mapleson C breathing system for pre-oxygenation. ⋯ The Mapleson C breathing system is more effective and subjectively easier to breathe through than a self-inflating bag when used for pre-oxygenation. However, these benefits must be weighed against the increased level of skill required and possible complications when using a Mapleson C breathing system.