Articles: emergency-medicine.
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In 2018, a group of Irish emergency medicine (EM) trainees recognised their common interest in collaborative research and the difficulties that trainees can encounter when trying to broaden their research capacity, prompting the beginning of the Irish Trainee Emergency Research Network (ITERN) journey. Trainee-led collaboratives have been shown to be feasible and have the potential to deliver impactful research projects, generating an evidence base that may not have been possible without collaboration. This article describes the successes and achievement of ITERN and describes the processes and challenges that a trainee-led research network can encounter. The authors believe that trainee-led collaboratives can deliver powerful and impactful research for patients and broaden the research capacity of individuals, hospitals, and groups of healthcare professionals.
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Observational Study
Emergency department use of an electronic differential diagnosis generator in the evaluation of critically ill patients.
Accurate diagnosis is an essential component of managing critically ill emergency department (ED) patients. Electronic diagnosis generators (EDGs) are software tools which assist clinicians in their diagnosis generation; however, they have not been evaluated for use for critical ED patients. We aimed to evaluate the use of an EDG for this population to determine its impact on diagnosis generation and diagnostic testing. ⋯ EDGs have some potential to improve diagnosis in critical EM patients by expanding the differential diagnosis and, to a lesser extent, altering diagnostic testing.
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Review Meta Analysis
Assessing the impact of pre-hospital airway management on severe traumatic Brain injury: A systematic review and Meta-analysis.
This study aimed to assess the impact of establishing a pre-hospital definitive airway on mortality and morbidity compared with no prehospital airway in cases of severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). ⋯ In summary, an initial assessment did not reveal any apparent disparity in mortality rates between individuals who received prehospital intubation and those who did not. However, subsequent analyses and randomized controlled trials (RCTs) demonstrated that patients who underwent prehospital intubation had a reduced risk of death and morbidity. The dependence on biased observational studies and the need for further replicated RCTs to validate these findings are evident. Despite the intricacy of the matter, it is crucial to intervene during severe airway impairment.
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Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a rare but serious condition associated with significant morbidity. ⋯ An understanding of MS can assist emergency clinicians in better diagnosing and managing this neurologically devastating disease.