A Cohort Comparison Study on Women in Threatened Preterm Labor Given Nifedipine or Nifedipine and Salbutamol Tocolysis in Air Medical Retrieval.

Objective: Women with threatened preterm labor in remote Australia often require tocolysis in the prevention of in-flight birth during air medical retrieval. However, debate exists over the tocolytic choice.

Methods: A retrospective analysis was undertaken on data containing women who required air medical retrieval for threatened preterm labor within Western Australia between the years 2013 and 2018.

Ability of the Australian general public to identify common emergency medical situations: Results of an online survey of a nationally representative sample.

Objective: To investigate the Australian general public's ability to identify common medical emergencies as requiring an emergency response.

Methods: An online survey asked participants to identify likely medical treatment pathways they would take for 17 hypothetical medical scenarios (eight emergency and nine non-emergency). The number and type of emergency scenarios participants correctly suggested warranted an emergency medical response was examined.

Investigating the Extent Realistic Moulage Impacts on Immersion and Performance Among Undergraduate Paramedicine Students in a Simulation-based Trauma Scenario: A Pilot Study.

Introduction: Many healthcare education commentators suggest that moulage can be used in simulation to enhance scenario realism. However, few studies investigate to what extent using moulage in simulation impacts learners. We undertook a mixed-methods pilot study investigating how moulage influences student immersion and performance in simulation.

Assessing simulation-based clinical training: comparing the concurrent validity of students' self-reported satisfaction and confidence measures against objective clinical examinations.

Introduction: Simulation-based education (SBE) literature is replete with student satisfaction and confidence measures to infer educational outcomes. This research aims to test how well students' satisfaction and confidence measures correlate with expert assessments of students' improvements in competence following SBE activities.

Methods: N=85 paramedic students (mean age 23.

Testing children's ability to correctly use the "Shadow Rule" for sun protection.

Introduction: The "Shadow Rule" (SR) is a useful, immediate indicator of sunburn risk following the mnemonic "Short shadow? Seek shade!" However, some question people's ability to discern when their shadows are shorter or longer than them.

Methods: N = 76 10-year-old children were taught the SR and then asked to estimate their sun-cast shadow length relative to their height and whether this meant they should seek shade. Children were then asked to estimate a doll's shadow length at 10 systematically randomised angles.

Effects of Low- Versus High-Fidelity Simulations on the Cognitive Burden and Performance of Entry-Level Paramedicine Students: A Mixed-Methods Comparison Trial Using Eye-Tracking, Continuous Heart Rate, Difficulty Rating Scales, Video Observation and Interviews.

Introduction: High-fidelity simulation-based training is often avoided for early-stage students because of the assumption that while practicing newly learned skills, they are ill suited to processing multiple demands, which can lead to "cognitive overload" and poorer learning outcomes. We tested this assumption using a mixed-methods experimental design manipulating psychological immersion.

Methods: Thirty-nine randomly assigned first-year paramedicine students completed low- or high-environmental fidelity simulations [low-environmental fidelity simulations (LF(en)S) vs.

Clinical Placement Before or After Simulated Learning Environments?: A Naturalistic Study of Clinical Skills Acquisition Among Early-Stage Paramedicine Students.

Background: There is conflicting evidence surrounding the merit of clinical placements (CPs) for early-stage health-profession students. Some contend that early-stage CPs facilitate contextualization of a subsequently learned theory. Others argue that training in simulated-learning experiences (SLEs) should occur before CP to ensure that students possess at least basic competency.

Quantification of opportunities for early-stage paramedicine students to practice clinical skills during clinical placements compared with an equal dose of simulation-based workshops.

Introduction: A reported advantage of simulation-based learning environments (SLE) over clinical placements (CPs) is that the former can provide a greater number and breadth of opportunities to practice level-appropriate clinical skills compared with the random patient presentations provided during the latter. Although logical and widely accepted as fact, we find no published evidence to demonstrate the magnitude, nor indeed veracity, of this assumption. We therefore sought to quantify the clinical skills practiced by entry-level paramedicine students attending a well-selected CP compared with an equal dosage of SLE.

Impact of a point-of-sale tobacco display ban on smokers' spontaneous purchases: comparisons from postpurchase interviews before and after the ban in Western Australia.

Objective: To assess the impact of the Western Australian tobacco point-of-sale display ban on spontaneous purchase behaviours.

Methods: Daily adult smokers (n=402) observed purchasing cigarettes were recruited via exit interviews either 2 months before or after the implementation of the display ban. Smokers were asked if they had intended to purchase cigarettes before entering the store to assess spontaneous purchase behaviours.

Measuring the effect of cigarette plain packaging on transaction times and selection errors in a simulation experiment.

Introduction: Australia has introduced legislation to force all cigarette packaging to be generic from 2012 onwards. The tobacco retail industry estimates this will result in transaction times increasing by 15-45 s per pack and is spending at least $A10 million of tobacco industry funds on an advertising campaigns claiming that the increased time and errors associated with plain packaging will ultimately cost small businesses $A 461 million per annum and endanger 15,000 jobs. We undertook an objective experiment to test these claims.