Current definitions of advanced multimorbidity: a protocol for a scoping review.

Introduction: People living with and dying from multimorbidity are increasing in number, and ensuring quality care for this population is one of the major challenges facing healthcare providers. People with multimorbidity often have a high burden of palliative and end-of-life care needs, though they do not always access specialist palliative care services. A key reason for this is that they are often not identified as being in the last stages of their life by current healthcare providers and systems.

Duration of External Neck Stabilisation (DENS) following odontoid fracture in older or frail adults: protocol for a randomised controlled trial of collar versus no collar.

Introduction: Fractures of the odontoid process frequently result from low impact falls in frail or older adults. These are increasing in incidence and importance as the population ages. In the UK, odontoid fractures in older adults are usually managed in hard collars to immobilise the fracture and promote bony healing.

The 4 'A's test for detecting delirium in acute medical patients: a diagnostic accuracy study.

Background: Delirium is a common and serious neuropsychiatric syndrome, usually triggered by illness or drugs. It remains underdetected. One reason for this is a lack of brief, pragmatic assessment tools.

Delirium detection in older acute medical inpatients: a multicentre prospective comparative diagnostic test accuracy study of the 4AT and the confusion assessment method.

Background: Delirium affects > 15% of hospitalised patients but is grossly underdetected, contributing to poor care. The 4 'A's Test (4AT, www.the4AT.

Principal results of a randomised open label exploratory, safety and tolerability study with calmangafodipir in patients treated with a 12 h regimen of N-acetylcysteine for paracetamol overdose (POP trial).

Background: The POP Trial was a phase 1, open-label, rising-dose, randomised study that explored the safety and tolerability of calmangafodipir (superoxide dismutase mimetic) co-treatment with n-acetylcysteine (NAC) for paracetamol overdose.

Methods: Patients were recruited at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh (8th June 2017-10th May 2018). Inclusion criterion: adults within 24 h of a paracetamol overdose that required NAC.

Protocol for validation of the 4AT, a rapid screening tool for delirium: a multicentre prospective diagnostic test accuracy study.

Introduction: Delirium is a severe neuropsychiatric syndrome of rapid onset, commonly precipitated by acute illness. It is common in older people in the emergency department (ED) and acute hospital, but greatly under-recognised in these and other settings. Delirium and other forms of cognitive impairment, particularly dementia, commonly coexist.

Introduction of paramedic led Echo in Life Support into the pre-hospital environment: The PUCA study.

Objectives: Can pre-hospital paramedic responders perform satisfactory pre-hospital Echo in Life Support (ELS) during the 10-s pulse check window, and does pre-hospital ELS adversely affect the delivery of cardiac arrest care.

Methods: Prospective observational study of a cohort of ELS trained paramedics using saved ultrasound clips and wearable camera videos.

Results: Between 23rd June 2014 and 31st January 2016, seven Resuscitation Rapid Response Unit (3RU) paramedics attended 45 patients in Lothian suffering out-of-hospital CA where resuscitation was attempted and ELS was available and performed.

Researching participant recruitment times.

Conducting research in emergency departments is relatively new, and there are a number of ethical and practical challenges to recruiting patients in these settings. In 2008, the Emergency Medicine Research Group Edinburgh (EMERGE) was set up at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh emergency department to support researchers and encourage the growth of research in emergency medicine. As part of a review of their working methods, the group's clinical nurse researchers undertook a small study to identify participant recruitment times.