Emergency medicine journal : EMJ
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The re-attendance of patients to emergency departments is becoming an increasingly common problem and yet there is not much research available on this subject. This report describes an audit carried out in the emergency department of this hospital, specifically looking at the issue of re-attendance and if there is anything that can be done to prevent it. ⋯ Whereas SHO range in experience from a year post-qualification to a possible 5-6 years post-qualification, all FY2 doctors have only one year post-qualification clinical experience. In this audit, FY2 doctors, despite seeing fewer patients per head than the middle-grade tier, had a higher level of re-attendance and it is hypothesised whether this is due to the impact of modernising medical careers on their training.
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Multicenter Study
Debriefing after failed paediatric resuscitation: a survey of current UK practice.
Debriefing is a form of psychological "first aid" with origins in the military. It moved into the spotlight in 1983, when Mitchell described the technique of critical incident stress debriefing. To date little work has been carried out relating to the effectiveness of debriefing hospital staff after critical incidents. The aim of this study was to survey current UK practice in order to develop some "best practice" guidelines. ⋯ Little is currently known about the benefits of debriefing hospital staff after critical incidents such as failed resuscitation. Debriefing is, however, widely practised and the results of this study have been used to formulate some best practice guidelines while awaiting evidence from further studies.
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Multicenter Study Comparative Study
Incidence and causes of critical incidents in emergency departments: a comparison and root cause analysis.
To investigate the incidence of critical incidents in UK emergency departments (EDs) and to compare the root causes of such incidents between different EDs. ⋯ Critical incidents occur frequently in EDs. There are significant differences, as well as common themes, in the causes of these critical incidents between different EDs.
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Excess alcohol consumption and associated harms in terms of health, crime and disorder have been highlighted by the government and media, causing considerable public concern. This study quantified the number of patient attendances at an urban adult and children's emergency department (ED) directly attributable to alcohol intoxication, and investigated ways in which the inter-agency sharing of anonymised information could be used to design, implement and monitor interventions to reduce these harms. ⋯ The initiative to achieve inter-agency collaboration and data sharing was highly successful, with clear potential for the development and implementation of interventions that will reduce ED attendance due to excess alcohol consumption.