While it is widely accepted that whole of hospital solutions are necessary to reduce the ever-increasing burden on the public health system, little research has focussed on understanding the relationship between ambulance arrival related flow metrics and emergency department (ED) crowding. Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) shares patient load across multiple hospitals, and receiving facilities strive to meet a Patient Off Stretcher Time (POST) target of 30 minutes. We examine ambulance arrival data from the QAS and ED patient arrival data from 15 major metropolitan hospitals across Queensland, to understand temporal variations in POST performance and examine the relationship between POST performance and ED crowding. The findings suggest a relationship between ED occupancy levels and both ambulances waiting at the ED door and average POST at larger hospitals. No relationship between POST and ED length of stay was found, perhaps due to competing ED National Emergency Access Targets (NEAT). Further modelling is recommended to formally test these observations.
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Stroke
January 2025
Department of Neurology, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta University. (M.B.K., B.B., D.C.H.).
Background: Remote ischemic conditioning (RIC) is a simple and low-cost intervention that is thought to increase collateral blood flow through the vasodilatory effects of nitric oxide (NO) produced by the endothelium and red blood cells (RBCs). This study aims to investigate whether RIC affects RBC deformability and levels of NO and nitrite in patients with ischemic stroke.
Methods: This is a predefined substudy to the RESIST (Remote Ischemic Conditioning in Patients With Acute Stroke Trial) randomized clinical trial conducted in Denmark.
Emerg Med Australas
February 2025
National Trauma Research Institute, Alfred Health, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Objectives: To establish the determinants of death in hospital for patients with moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) in Australia.
Design, Setting, Participants: Retrospective analysis of Australia New Zealand Trauma Registry (ANZTR) data. Cases were included if they presented to a participating hospital between 1 July 2015 and 30 June 2020 and had an Abbreviated Injury Severity (AIS) score - head greater than 2.
Objectives: Prehospital notifications (pre-alerts) enable emergency department (ED) staff to prepare for the arrival of patients requiring a time-critical response. Effective communication of the pre-alert is key to enabling the ED to prepare appropriately, but evidence on communication practices is lacking. We undertook qualitative research to understand how pre-alert communication may be improved to optimise the ED response for pre-alerted patients.
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January 2025
Emergency Medicine Department, National Guard Health Affairs, King Abdulaziz Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Emergency medicine practitioners encounter significant challenges related to patients who leave emergency departments (EDs) without being seen (LWBS) in the ED. We aimed to assess the characteristics, reasons, and rate of patients who left without being seen in the tertiary teaching hospital ED of King Khalid University Hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. A qualitative prospective observational study was conducted from January 4, 2023, to May 17, 2023, among patients who left the ED without being seen in the King Khalid University Hospital, King Saud University Medical City, a tertiary hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
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October 2024
Department of Surgery, University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine, Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
A hamartoma is a benign tumor of tissue resembling the site of origin, despite exhibiting disorganized architecture. While benign, symptoms typically arise from mass effects. They are often found in the lower gastrointestinal tract and are a rare finding in the pharynx and larynx.
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