Publications by authors named "Tia Renouf"

Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) remains one of the most prevalent cardiovascular emergencies in the world. The development of international protocols and the use of accessible devices such as automated external defibrillators (AEDs) allowed for the standardization and organization of medical care related to SCA. When defibrillation is performed within five minutes of starting ventricular fibrillation (VF) and pulseless ventricular tachycardia (VT), the victim survival rate has increased considerably.

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Objective: Communication is a key competency for medical education and comprehensive patient care. In rural environments, communication between rural family physicians and urban specialists is an essential pathway for clinical decision making. The aim of this study was to explore rural physicians' perspectives on communication with urban specialists during consultations and referrals.

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During the current coronavirus pandemic, significant emphasis has been placed on the importance of mitigating nosocomial spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). One important consideration involves the appropriate use of effective personal protective equipment (PPE), which may reduce a healthcare provider's likelihood of becoming infected while simultaneously minimizing exposure to other patients that they care for. This may reduce demands placed on the healthcare system and help to preserve the workforce.

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Introduction: The emergency department is a complex practice environment into which numerous factors may introduce both human and system error. Emergency physicians have to assemble and manage multidisciplinary teams with a moment's notice to manage critically ill patients. The EM training programs across Canada are diverse with considerable variation among programs.

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Context We lack guidelines to inform the necessary components of an emergency medicine undergraduate rotation. Traditionally, clinical reasoning has been taught using linear thought processes likely not ideal for diagnostic and management decisions made in the emergency department.  Methods We used the Delphi method to obtain consensus on a set of competencies for undergraduate emergency medicine that illustrate the non-linear concepts we believe are necessary for learners.

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Recent surges in COVID-19 cases have generated an urgent global demand for ventilators. This demand has led to the development of numerous low-cost ventilation devices, but there has been less emphasis on training health professionals to use these new devices safely. The aim of this technical report is twofold: first, to describe the design and manufacturing process of the automated inflating resuscitator (AIR), a 3D-printed ventilator training device which operates on the principle of pushing a bag valve mask; second, to present a simulation scenario that can be used for training health professionals how to use this and similar, low-cost, 3D-printed ventilators in the context of ventilator shortages caused by COVID-19.

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Trauma is a major cause of premature death and disability worldwide, with a disproportionate number of deaths occurring in rural and remote areas. Prehospital care is a key link in the chain of trauma survival and its role may be currently underestimated. Therefore, addressing deficiencies in prehospital trauma care may help to improve outcomes.

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Simulation-based health professional education (HPE) is widely practiced in resource-rich regions, yet it is underutilized or ineffectively delivered in resource-poor ones, particularly when we fail to consider local contexts such as infrastructure, literacy, and culture when developing educational programs. Such an approach would be an example of failure of delivery, or the inability to bring services to people whose diseases have proven therapies. It is the biggest obstacle facing global health.

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Background: Point of Care Ultrasound (PoCUS) is well established within emergency medicine, however, the availability of formal training for other clinical disciplines is limited. Memorial University has established a cost-efficient, multidisciplinary PoCUS training program focusing on training residents' discipline-specific ultrasound skills. This study evaluates the skills, knowledge, and attitudes of residents who participated in the program.

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Cricothyroidotomy is a life-saving medical procedure that allows for tracheal intubation. Most current cricothyroidotomy simulation models are either expensive or not anatomically accurate and provide the learner with an unrealistic simulation experience. The goal of this project is to improve current simulation techniques by utilizing rapid prototyping using 3D printing technology and expert opinions to develop inexpensive and anatomically accurate trachea simulators.

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Patients living in remote areas have higher rates of injury-related death than those living in cities. Rural and remote health professionals working in sparsely populated places, such as Cat Island Bahamas, may have scant resources for treating emergency conditions. Local health professionals must be prepared to rely solely upon clinical judgment to perform emergency "high-stakes low-frequency" procedures while also accurately and effectively communicating with distantly located receiving specialists.

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Simulation has been shown to improve both learner knowledge and patient outcomes. Many emergency medicine training programs incorporate simulation into their curricula to provide learners with experiences that are rare to encounter in practice, yet performance with a high degree of competence is critical. One rare encounter, which is depicted in the report, is the management of a trauma patient who was hypothermic after falling from an expedition vessel into the cold Southern Ocean.

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Broome is a remote coastal town in Western Australia. As a general practitioner working in Broome, I have been involved in the education of general practice trainee registrars both locally and remotely, as a supervisor with two different training programs.

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Nepal is a low-income, landlocked country located on the Indian subcontinent between China and India. The challenge of finding human resources for rural community health care settings is not unique to Nepal. In spite of the challenges, the health sector has made significant improvement in national health indices over the past half century.

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Despite a large number of yearly medical graduates, rural New Zealand is faced with a scarcity of practicing physicians. Opportunities to learn and practice in rural settings start at the undergraduate level and extend to practicing physicians. There are a number of different programs available to facilitate rural medical education for all students and physicians.

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Rural and remote places like Sable Island (Nova Scotia) or François (Newfoundland) pose a challenge in delivering both health care and appropriate education that today's learners need to practice in a rural setting. This education can be difficult to deliver to students far from academic centers. This is especially true for learners and practitioners at offshore locations like ships, oil installations, or in the air when patients are transported via fixed wing aircraft or helicopter.

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Laparoscopic surgery has been shown to have many favorable effects on surgical outcomes and postoperative recovery times. However, the cost of currently available training programs, such as the Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery (FLS), limits their adoption in developing countries. To address this cost constraint, educators at the Justinian University Hospital (JUH) in Northern Haiti used local materials to build their own laparoscopic skills box trainer.

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Objectives: To examine perceived communication barriers between urban consultants and rural family physicians practising routine and emergency care in remote subarctic Newfoundland and Labrador (NL).

Design: This study used a mixed-methods design. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected through exploratory surveys, comprised of closed and open-ended questions.

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The relevance of simulation as a teaching tool for medical professionals working in rural and remote contexts is apparent when low-frequency, high-risk situations are considered. Simulation training has been shown to enhance learning and improve patient outcomes in urban settings. However, there are few simulation scenarios designed to teach rural trauma management during complex medical transportation.

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Objectives: To describe the current state of academic emergency medicine (EM) funding in Canada and develop recommendations to grow and establish sustainable funding.

Methods: A panel of eight leaders from different EM academic units was assembled. Using mixed methods (including a literature review, sharing of professional experiences, a survey of current EM academic heads, and data previously collected from an environmental scan), 10 recommendations were drafted and presented at an academic symposium.

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As adult learners, junior clerks on core rotations in emergency medicine (EM) are expected to "own" their patients and follow them from presentation to disposition in the Emergency Department (ED). Traditionally, we teach clerks to present an exhaustive linear list of symptoms and signs to their preceptors. This does not apply well to the fast-paced ED setting.

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