Articles: trauma.
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It has been a decade since emergency medicine was recognized as a specialty in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). In this short time, emergency medicine has established itself and developed rapidly in the UAE. Large, well-equipped emergency departments (EDs) are usually located in government hospitals, some of which function as regional trauma centers. ⋯ Medicine residency programs were established 5 years ago and form the foundation for training emergency medicine specialists for UAE. This article describes the full spectrum of emergency medicine in the UAE: prehospital care, EMS, hospital-based emergency care, training in emergency medicine, and disaster preparedness. We hope that our experience, our understanding of the challenges faced by the specialty, and the anticipated future directions will be of importance to others advancing emergency medicine in their region and across the globe.
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Periorbital ecchymosis (PE) is caused by blood tracking along tissue plains into periorbital tissues, causing discoloration in the upper and lower eyelids. This clinical feature is most commonly associated with basal skull fractures. Our objective is to present the first patient series describing the clinical features associated with traumatically induced PE. ⋯ Periorbital ecchymosis is a useful clinic sign that should alert the clinician to assess for skull fractures, intracranial haemorrhage, and cranial nerve injury. However, this series shows that PE can be associated with a variety of clinical features, is rarely accompanied by other classic signs of basal skull fracture, and most patients with PE do not have injuries severe enough to require surgical intervention or post-discharge rehabilitation.
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Winter sports have evolved from an upper class activity to a mass industry. Especially sledging regained popularity at the start of this century, with more and more winter sports resorts offering sledge runs. This study investigated the rates of sledging injuries over the last 13 years and analysed injury patterns specific for certain age groups, enabling us to make suggestions for preventive measures. ⋯ Mild head trauma was mainly found in very young sledgers, and injuries to the lower extremities were more frequent in adults. In accordance with the current literature, we suggest that sledging should be performed in designated, obstacle-free areas that are specially prepared, and that children should always be supervised by adults. The effect of routine use of helmets and other protective devices needs further evaluation, but it seems evident that these should be obligatory on official runs.
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Multicenter Study
Acute costs and predictors of higher treatment costs of trauma in New South Wales, Australia.
Accurate economic data are fundamental for improving current funding models and ultimately in promoting the efficient delivery of services. The financial burden of a high trauma casemix to designated trauma centres in Australia has not been previously determined, and there is some evidence that the episode funding model used in Australia results in the underfunding of trauma. ⋯ This multicentre trauma costing study demonstrated the feasibility of trauma registry and financial data linkage. Discrepancies between the observed costs of care in these 12 trauma centres and the NSW average AR-DRG costs suggest that trauma care is currently underfunded in NSW.
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Scand J Trauma Resus · Jan 2014
The impact of severe traumatic brain injury on a novel base deficit- based classification of hypovolemic shock.
Recently, our group has proposed a new classification of hypovolemic shock based on the physiological shock marker base deficit (BD). The classification consists of four groups of worsening BD and correlates with the extent of hypovolemic shock in severely injured patients. The aim of this study was to test the applicability of our recently proposed classification of hypovolemic shock in the context of severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). ⋯ The presence of TBI has no relevant impact on the applicability of the recently proposed BD-based classification of hypovolemic shock. This study underlines the role of BD as a relevant clinical indicator of hypovolaemic shock during the initial assessment in respect to haemostatic resuscitation and transfusion requirements.