Search Tag: emergency department
#EuSEM18: Sepsis in the emergency department - what antibiotics?
2018 18 Sep
Doctors are responsible for reducing antibiotic usage in their hospital, region and country. At the same time, emergency medicine doctors have the responsibility to treat very sick patients - with suspected sepsis and septic shock, efficiently. This was the conundrum addressed by Christian Backer Mogensen, consultant in infectious medicine and emergency... Read more
#EUSEM18: End-of-life care in the ED
2018 12 Sep
Nobody goes into emergency medicine to care for dying patients, but people do die in emergency departments, and end-of-life care could and should be better in the ED, said Mary Dawood, RN, of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, London, speaking at the European Society of Emergency Medicine congress in Glasgow this week. She noted that EOLC in... Read more
Prompt cards in the Emergency Department
2018 23 Aug
Human factors are a well recognised cause of discrepancies in patient care that can lead to adverse outcomes. In a busy Emergency Department (ED) setting, when dealing with the sickest patients at all hours and with a rotating workforce, there is an increased potential for inconsistent care despite clear evidence based protocols and guidelines on... Read more
Need to optimise disposition in ED patients presenting with infection
2018 18 Jul
Emergency department (ED) patients with suspected infection admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) are associated with lower in-hospital mortality and costs than those initially admitted to the floor or discharged home, according to a new study published in the journal Critical Care. "Our findings demonstrate worse outcomes and higher costs... Read more
Can interventions reduce image ordering for low back pain in the ED?
2018 20 Jun
Low back pain (LBP) is a common complaint of people visiting the emergency department. As imaging of LBP has been identified as a key area of imaging overuse (e.g., Choosing Wisely recommendation), interventions to reduce image ordering among patients with LBP in both primary and acute care settings have been recommended. A new systematic review... Read more
Pre-ICU health organisation in Norway
2018 01 Jun
Presents the main principles of the Norwegian acute healthcare system. Norway is a rather small country with a population of about 5.3 million. More than half of these inhabitants are located in and around the larger cities, with about a million in the capital region of Oslo. Hence, significant parts of the country are rural, with fjords... Read more
Procalcitonin does not curb antibiotic use for lower respiratory tract infection
2018 29 May
In the Procalcitonin Antibiotic Consensus Trial (ProACT), the use of a procalcitonin-guided antibiotic prescription guideline did not result in less exposure to antibiotics than did usual care among patients presenting to the emergency department (ED) with suspected lower respiratory tract infection. Overuse of antibiotics is common in infections... Read more
New tool for detecting aneurysm risk in ER headache patients
2017 14 Nov
Identifying headache patients who are at risk of aneurysms can be difficult as they often seem otherwise well. In view of this, researchers at The Ottawa Hospital (Ontario) have developed a new tool designed to help emergency departments identify high-risk patients and improve survival rates. The tool is called The Ottawa Subarachnoid Haemorrhage Rule... Read more
Tool predicts 30-day mortality for heart failure patients
2017 03 Oct
Researchers in Spain have developed a new tool to better assess risk of mortality from heart failure. The simple tool makes use of readily available data to accurately estimate the 30-day mortality risk for patients admitted to the emergency department with acute heart failure, according to a study published in Annals of Internal Medicine. Emergency... Read more
Emergency Imaging Organised by the Welsh Branch
2017 19 Sep
Find British Institute of Radiology (BIR) on Social Media Read more