Articles: emergency-medicine.
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Pediatric emergency care · Aug 1999
Comparative StudyDiscordant radiograph interpretation between emergency physicians and radiologists in a pediatric emergency department.
To describe the types of discrepancies in radiograph interpretation between emergency physicians and radiologists in a pediatric emergency department, and to determine the impact of discrepant interpretations on patient care. ⋯ Emergency physicians would benefit from more rigorous interpretation of chest x-rays to avoid unnecessary treatment with antibiotics. Emergency physicians do a good job interpreting plain radiographs, but occasionally miss significant findings that could lead to adverse outcomes. The presence of radiologists to immediately read radiographs 24 hours a day could prevent missed findings, but, given the small number of significant misinterpretations, is unlikely to be cost effective.
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Because of stress and illness, conscious emergency medicine (EM) patients may be temporarily cognitively impaired and thus incapable of participating in the informed consent process for acute care research. This pilot study sought to assess the mental capacity of ED patients during their evaluation and treatment for acute myocardial infarction (AMI). ⋯ This pilot study suggests that some patients with AMI may have difficulty processing information necessary to give informed consent for acute care research. Routine clinical evaluation may not detect this cognitive defect.
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Despite the evolution, expansion and popularity of emergency medicine as a medical specialty in the United Kingdom (UK), emergency departments are still primarily staffed by senior house officers (second and third year graduates), particularly at weekends and at night. ⋯ The present study discusses possible reasons for this and offers constructive solutions to the problem. Although the matters discussed in this study refer to UK medical practice, they may be of relevance and interest to Australasian practitioners. Is EMST in Australasia training the appropriate group of doctors?
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Currently, there is no standardized curriculum for training of emergency physicians about the health hazards related to weapons of mass destruction. Opportunities for the widespread teaching of this material have remained limited, and the range of knowledge regarding even general disaster medical care is also variable among most residency training programs in the United States. We developed a survey to ascertain whether any formal training in biological weapons is conducted in emergency medicine programs; to determine the overall subjective ability of program directors or residency directors to recognize and clinically manage casualties of biological weapons agents; and to identify which resources might be used by emergency physicians to identify and treat biological warfare casualties. We also document a baseline of current practices regarding biological weapons training in emergency medicine residency programs.
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To offer to the pediatric emergency physician consistent and unambiguous terms for the description of pediatric ocular trauma, based upon an adapted version of a standardized classification system. To show the potential effect of this reclassification system in a tertiary care emergency department. ⋯ There is currently no standardized system of terminology to describe pediatric ocular trauma. This may lead to confusion in communication among the pediatric emergency physician, the pediatrician, and the ophthalmologist. Consistent, unambiguous, terminology will assist in this communication, facilitate the writing of peer-reviewed articles and case reports, and increase the level of accurate documentation in the medical record.