Publications by authors named "Angela Hills"
Study Objectives: Concentrated albumin early in sepsis resuscitation remains largely unexplored. Objectives were to determine 1) feasibility of early intervention with concentrated albumin in emergency department (ED) patients with suspected infection and hypoperfusion and 2) whether early albumin therapy improves outcomes.
Methods: ED patients with suspected infection and hypoperfusion (systolic blood pressure [SBP]<90 mmHg or lactate ≥4.
Objective: Blood cultures (BCs) remain a key investigation in ED patients at risk of bacteraemia. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of a multi-modal, nursing-led intervention to improve the quality of BCs in the ED, in terms of single culture, underfilling and contamination rates.
Method: The present study was conducted in the ED of a large urban tertiary referral hospital.
Objective: To benchmark blood culture (BC) quality in an Australian ED, explore groups at risk of suboptimal BC collection, and identify potential areas for improvement.
Methods: This retrospective observational study was undertaken to benchmark quality of BCs in a tertiary adult ED in terms of number of BC sets per patient and proportion of patients with false positive (contaminated) BC results.
Results: A single BC set was taken for 55% of patients, with lower acuity patients being more likely to have a single BC set taken.
Background: Assessment and reassessment of self reported pain intensity scores form the basis of acute pain care in the emergency deprtment (ED), however are frequently undocumented. The effects of not documenting pain assessments on time to first analgesic medication (TTA) and ED length of stay (EDLOS) are unknown.
Methods: This is a retrospective cross-sectional study to investigate the association between documented evidence of pain intensity scores, TTA and EDLOS in the ED.