Formal medicine reconciliation within the emergency department reduces the medication error rates for emergency admissions.

Aim: To improve medication history accuracy and reduce prescribing errors for unscheduled patients admitted via the emergency department (ED).

Design: A prospective observational study of 100 adult unscheduled admissions with 50 patients in both pre and post-intervention groups. One investigator completed the required information including patient demographics, admitting speciality, number and types of any medication errors detected.

Spinal cord injury without radiographic abnormality in a 4-year-old child: hypoperfusion injury or direct trauma?

Spinal cord injury without radiographic abnormality is uncommon even in major paediatric trauma. A case is described of a 4-year-old girl sustaining multiple injuries from blunt trauma including spinal cord injury without radiographic abnormality. She was profoundly shocked with extensive thoracic, abdominal and pelvic injuries.

Tracheal intubation in the emergency department: the Scottish district hospital perspective.

Background: Tracheal intubation is the accepted gold standard for emergency department (ED) airway management. It may be performed by both anaesthetists and emergency physicians (EPs), with or without drugs.

Objective: To characterise intubation practice in a busy district general hospital ED in Scotland over 40 months between 2003 and 2006.

Scottish urban versus rural trauma outcome study.

Background: Outcome following trauma and health care access are important components of health care planning. Resources are limited and quality information is required. We set the objective of comparing the outcomes for patients suffering significant trauma in urban and rural environments in Scotland.

Emergency department thrombolysis improves door to needle times.

Objective: To identify the effect on door to needle (DTN) time of moving the site of thrombolysis delivery from the coronary care unit (CCU) to the emergency department (ED). To ascertain if moving the site of thrombolysis enables appropriate use of thrombolysis.

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Spontaneous tension pneumopericardium.

A 29-year-old man presented to the accident and emergency department complaining of a sudden onset of chest and upper abdominal pain. He had a past history of intravenous drug abuse and a previous stab wound to the left hypochondrium that had required laparotomy. On arrival he was distressed with grunting respiration.

Tricyclic antidepressant overdose: a review.

Overdoses of tricyclic antidepressants are among the commonest causes of drug poisoning seen in accident and emergency departments. This review discusses the pharmacokinetics, clinical presentation and treatment of tricyclic overdose.

The treatment of overdose--time for a change?

To determine emergency management of overdose relating to gastrointestinal decontamination procedures in Scottish Accident & Emergency (A & E) Departments. A postal questionnaire was sent to the 28 main A & E Departments in Scotland. There was a 75% response rate.

Golf related head injuries in children: the little tigers.

Head injury is a major cause of morbidity in Western society and sport related incidents account for approximately 11% of all head injured patients attending Accident and Emergency Departments. Golf was shown to be one of the sports most commonly associated with head injury requiring referral to a regional neurosurgical centre. Previous studies have demonstrated that it is predominantly children who sustain golf related head injuries which present either to an accident and emergency department or a regional neurosurgical centre.