Emergency medicine journal : EMJ
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A shortcut review was carried out to establish whether topical lidocaine was effective at reducing pain and improving oral intake in children with painful oral lesions. 34 papers were found using the reported searches, of which two presented the best available evidence to answer the clinical question. The author, date and country of publication, patient group studied, study type, relevant outcomes, results and study weaknesses of these two papers are tabulated. It is concluded that in otherwise healthy paediatric patients with painful oral ulcers, treatment with viscous lidocaine does not improve oral intake, although it may provide some pain relief.
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Trauma in the elderly (>65 years) is an increasingly common presentation to the ED. A fall from standing height is the most common mechanism after which such patients present, and rib fracture is the most common non-spinal fracture. ⋯ There are currently no universally applied guidelines for assessment, investigation and management of such patients. In this expert practice review, we discuss the evidence base and options for clinical management in this vulnerable patient group.
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There have been claims that Delayed Transfers of Care (DTOCs) of inpatients to home or a less acute setting are related to Emergency Department (ED) crowding. In particular DTOCs were associated with breaches of the UK 4-hour waiting time target in a previously published analysis. However, the analysis has major limitations by not adjusting for the longitudinal trend of the data. The aim of this work is to investigate whether the proposition that DTOCs impact the 4-hour target requires further research. ⋯ Our reanalysis found weak correlation between numbers of DTOCs and ED 4-hour target breaches. Our study does not indicate that there is no relationship between 4-hour target and DTOCs, it highlights that statistically robust evidence for this relationship does not currently exist. Further work is required to understand the relationship between breaches of the 4-hour target and numbers of DTOCs.
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Observational Study
Opt-out screening for HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C: observational study of screening acceptance, yield and treatment outcomes.
We initiated an emergency department (ED) opt-out screening programme for HIV, hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) at our hospital in Dublin, Ireland. The objective of this study was to determine screening acceptance, yield and the impact on follow-up care. ⋯ Although high proportions of patients had known diagnoses, our programme was able to identify many new infected patients and link them to care, as well as relink patients with known diagnoses who had been lost to follow-up.
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A shortcut review was carried out to establish whether the degree of breathlessness in patients with an acute exacerbation of COPD is indicative of the severity of the exacerbation. Three hundred and forty-seven papers were found using the reported searches, of which five presented the best available evidence to answer the clinical question. ⋯ It is concluded that increased shortness of breath is associated with a worse prognosis in patients with acute exacerbations of COPD. Dyspnoea assessment should be included in the triage process.