Emergency medicine journal : EMJ
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Haemorrhage is a major cause of mortality and morbidity following both military and civilian trauma. Haemostatic dressings may offer effective haemorrhage control as part of prehospital treatment. ⋯ Systematic review, level IV.
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Despite the focus during the last decade on introducing interventions such as senior doctor initial assessment or senior doctor triage (SDT) to reduce emergency department (ED) crowding, there has been little attempt to identify the views of emergency healthcare professionals on such interventions. The aim of this study was to gain an understanding of SDT from the perspective of emergency hospital staff. A secondary aim of this study was to develop a definition of SDT based on the interview findings and the available literature on this process. ⋯ This is the first national study to explore the opinions of various emergency and managerial staff on the SDT model. It revealed variable interpretations of this model and what it can and cannot offer. This has led to a standard definition of the SDT process, which can be useful for clinicians and researchers in emergency care.
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The majority of patients presenting to the ED with cardiac sounding chest pain have a non-diagnostic ECG and the problem of differentiating those suffering an acute coronary syndrome from those without is familiar to all ED clinical staff. To stratify risk in these patients, specific scores have been developed. Recent work has focused on incorporating newer high-sensitivity cardiac troponin (hs-cTn) assays; however, issues regarding performance and availability of these assays remain. ⋯ HEART outperformed both TIMI and GRACE in overall discriminative capacity for 30-day MACE. Using a single contemporary cTn at presentation, a HEART score of ≤3 demonstrated sensitivity and NPV of ≥99.5% for 30-day MACE. These results reach the threshold for a safe discharge strategy but should be interpreted thoughtfully in light of other work.
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Active compression-decompression (ACD) devices have enhanced end-tidal carbon dioxide (ETCO2) output in experimental cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) studies. However, the results in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) patients have shown inconsistent outcomes, and earlier studies lacked quality control of CPR attempts. We compared manual CPR with ACD-CPR by measuring ETCO2 output using an audiovisual feedback defibrillator to ensure continuous high quality resuscitation attempts. ⋯ This study suggests that quality controlled ACD-CPR is not superior to quality controlled manual CPR when ETCO2 is used as a quantitative measure of CPR effectiveness.
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A 45-year-old man with no past medical history presents with bilateral lower extremity pain and perineal numbness after walking 10-15 min. The pain starts in his bilateral buttocks and radiates down into his thigh and into his toes. He has no back pain, fever, difficulty urinating or stooling, incontinence or trauma. Social history is positive for smoking. Physical examination was only remarkable for non-dopplerable lower extremity pulses, and he was unable to ambulate down the ED hallway without becoming symptomatic. Ultrasound of his abdominal aorta (figure 1) was performed.emermed;35/7/419/F1F1F1Figure 1Transverse view of distal abdominal aorta, just proximal to the bifurcation. (A) The aorta without Doppler. (B) The same image with Doppler mode activated. ⋯ What is the most likely diagnosis based on the image?A. Lumbar stenosisB. Abdominal aortic aneurysmC. Aortic thrombusD. Aortic dissection.