Emergency medicine journal : EMJ
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Multicenter Study
A state-wide survey of medical emergency management in dental practices: incidence of emergencies and training experience.
Only a few data exist about the occurrence of emergencies in dental practice and the training experience of dental practice teams in life support. This study evaluates the incidence of emergencies in dental practices, the attitude of dentists towards emergency management and their training experience. ⋯ Medical emergencies are not rare in dental practice, although most of them are not life-threatening. Improvement of competence in emergency management should include repeated participation in life support courses, standardisation of courses and offering courses designed to meet the needs of dentists.
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Heat stroke is a medical emergency that requires immediate attention to prevent multiorgan dysfunction. It is vital that, as emergency physicians, we aim for early diagnosis and aggressive treatment of this condition to prevent the high morbidity and mortality that is associated with it. The case history is presented of a 21-year-old man who presented with exertional heat stroke with a raised troponin I level 24 h after admission which subsequently normalised. To our knowledge, there are no case reports in the literature of a patient with a raised troponin level following exertional heat stroke.
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Crowding of patients is common in emergency departments. The number of hip fracture patients not regarded as urgent builds up and patients wait for treatment. In this paper, we present the causes of waiting time and provide some suggestions to improve patient flow in emergency departments. ⋯ We may reduce total waiting time for hip fracture patients by taking an x ray during triage. There are many patients in crowded emergency departments whose symptoms of hip contusion and hip pain, and with a clear history of a fall, are known at admission. Taking an x ray during triage when a patient presents with a typical history and symptoms can reduce total waiting time. We hope that further evaluation could confirm this point.