Welcome to the January edition of the EMJ. A new decade starts a time of heavy clinical activity here in the UK, but despite that workload there is still much to learn and love about emergency medicine. This month sees a range of papers to change or challenge your practice. Which decision aid is best […]
Category: Primary Survey
Primary Survey December 2019
Do we know what older patients want from emergency care? We are increasingly aware of the preponderance of older patients attending our emergency departments as well as the fact that they are often acutely unwell. It is heartening then to see in this month’s issue some excellent papers pertaining to the care and treatment of […]
Primary Survey November 2019
Is it OK to close emergency departments? Many emergency physicians would be very concerned by any talk about closing Emergency Departments (EDs). We may have experienced it in our own regions, and we may have our own opinions about its impact on patient care. In this issue, Knowles et al have studied the real-world impact of closing […]
Primary Survey October 2019
Addressing language barriers in the emergency department The ‘Editor’s Choice’ paper covers the critical topic of communication and the concern that patients with a different first language are more likely to experience adverse events and poorer outcomes. How do you communicate with a patient who has a different first language: do you ask a member […]
EMJ Primary Survey September 2019
Dental radiographs in the ED I expect we’ve all requested panoramic dental radiographs at some point or other. I also suspect that if it’s for anything other than trauma then many of us will be a little lost on the interpretation. Anton Sklavos present a great review paper on interpretation that taught me a lot, […]
Primary Survey July 2018
Primary survey Do EPs change their clinical behaviour in the hallway encounters or when a companion is present? A cross-sectional survey and the commentary by Jacky Hanson and Kirsten Walthall Privacy is a key element in the process of undertaking a consultation with a patient, as it allows due care and attention to paid to the patient’s […]
Primary Survey June 2018. Emergency Medicine Journal
This month the primary survey is collated and written by Edward Carlton, Associate Editor, EMJ. Editor’s Choice: Controversies in Sepsis In this issue of the Emergency Medicine Journal (EMJ) we have two papers exploring tools to predict critical illness in sepsis. Two retrospective cohort studies, in ED patients with suspected sepsis/infection, evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of […]
Primary Survey May 2018. Emergency Medicine Journal.
This month’s primary survey is brought to you by Caroline Leech, Associate Editor, EMJ. Does a brief intervention in the ED reduce illicit drug use? Health promotion is critical in Emergency Medicine (EM), and Brief interventions (BI) for alcohol use are well established. This prospective cohort study assessed the efficacy of a BI for drug […]
Primary Survey August 2017.
Clinical pharmacists improve practice in emergency departments There are 2 studies in this month’s issue which show the benefits of clinical pharmacy input in the setting of an emergency department (ED). One from Spain and one from Belgium. It is a relatively high risk area for drug medication errors as there is a fast turnover […]
Primary Survey June 2017.
This month’s editor’s choice is actually a pair of papers: one, a study on the diagnostic characteristics of the T-MACS chest pain risk stratification score AND the other, a paper explaining a key methodological concept used in this and other studies of diagnostic tests, the receiving operator characteristic ROC) curve (Richard Body (an associate editor […]