Emergency medicine journal : EMJ
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Understanding patient experiences is crucial to evaluating care quality in EDs. However, while previous reviews describe the determinants of ED patient experiences (ie, factors that influence patient experiences), few have described actual patient experiences. The aim of this systematic mixed studies review was to describe patient experiences in the ED from the patient's perspective. ⋯ CRD42020150154.
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Hot debriefing (HoD) describes a structured team-based discussion which may be initiated following a significant event. Benefits may include improved teamwork, staff well-being and identification of learning opportunities. Existing literature indicates that while staff value HoD following significant events, it is infrequently undertaken in practice. ⋯ Implementation of HoD into the ED is feasible and viewed as beneficial by staff. Implementation toolkits for TAKE STOCK have been requested by 42 additional UK hospitals and ambulance trusts, demonstrating significant interest in its use. Research is now required to formally validate HoD frameworks for use in the ED, and assess whether HoD results in sustained improvements to staff and patient outcomes.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Cardiac Arrest Nurse Leadership (CANLEAD) trial: a simulation-based randomised controlled trial implementation of a new cardiac arrest role to facilitate cognitive offload for medical team leaders.
Medical team leaders in cardiac arrest teams are routinely subjected to disproportionately high levels of cognitive burden. This simulation-based study explored whether the introduction of a dedicated 'nursing team leader' is an effective way of cognitively offloading medical team leaders of cardiac arrest teams. It was hypothesised that reduced cognitive load may allow medical team leaders to focus on high-level tasks resulting in improved team performance. ⋯ Dedicated nursing team leadership in simulation based cardiac arrest teams resulted in cognitive offload for medical leaders and improved team performance.
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A short-cut review of the literature was carried out to examine the diagnostic test characteristics and potential patient benefits through the use of the Ottawa Subarachnoid Haemorrhage Clinical Decision Rule. Nine papers were identified as suitable for inclusion using the reported search strategy. ⋯ It is concluded that the Ottawa Clinical Decision Rule has a high sensitivity for the diagnosis of subarachnoid haemorrhage; however, there is limited robust evidence of international generalisability and no evidence of improved patient outcomes following implementation. Further prospective research is required in populations with variable prevalence to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of this intervention, compared with routine evaluation strategies.
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A short-cut review of the literature was carried out to examine the benefits of caffeine as an analgesic adjunct in tension-type and migraine-type headache. Six papers were identified as suitable for inclusion using the reported search strategy. The author, date and country of publication, patient group studied, study type, relevant outcomes, results and study weaknesses of the best papers are tabulated. It is concluded that caffeine provides effective analgesia as an adjunctive treatment in the management of secondary headache syndromes.