Chris Moulton VP of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine and Ellen Weber discuss the weekend effect. This is well worth a listen to get behind the headlines and politics of a controversial meme in healthcare. What is it? Is there an effect and what can we do about it? Click on this link to […]
Tag: emergency medicine
How Junior Doctors Think: A Guide for Reflective Practice
In the UK, junior doctors will rotate through emergency medicine in their second year post-graduation (Foundation Year 2). They’re granted autonomy to make independent decisions and ‘own’ patients for the first time. Elsewhere in the hospital, a junior’s role is largely secretarial, and generally within the confines of ‘normal working hours’. In the ED, the hours are brutal, the […]
Dispatching stress in the EOC #IAM999
In this month’s EMJ, Astrid Coxon and team have published a study looking at the experiences of staff working in local Emergency Operations Centres (EOCs). Broadly, staff who work there are in two groups. There are call takers who answer 999 calls from members of the public, process the information they receive, triage it, and […]
Should More Emergency Physicians be ‘Piloting British Airways’? The Musings of a Trainee: EMJ
Emergency physicians (EPs) routinely manage the sick, undifferentiated patients in whom life-saving interventions need to be executed rapidly. Our Royal College defines emergency medicine as ‘the specialty in which time is critical.’ In severe illness or injury, ‘A’ comes first. Securing a definitive airway is the gateway to the rest of critical care; without one, our […]
Diagnosing Small Bowel Obstruction in the ED: A Role for Ultrasound?
Diagnosing small bowel obstruction (SBO) is bread-and-butter work for the emergency physician. It accounts for 2% of patients presenting to the ED with abdominal pain, and 20% of all surgical admissions[1]. In the developing world the majority of SBO patients have had previous intra-abdominal surgeries causing adhesions… But I won’t delve into aetiology, let’s talk […]
UK emergency department performance: Failure or Success.
Recent figures suggest that UK emergency systems are failing to meet the 4-hour standard (aka the 4 hour target). At first glance this is true the data shows that 88.7% of patients are seen and discharged/admitted within 4 hours as compared to the target (I’m going to stick with target) of 95%. This has been […]
Why do Emergency Medicine?
Great work from colleagues in Edinburgh. Why would you do EM? Learn more by visiting their website at http://www.edinburghemergencymedicine.com/ and join the #EDvolution. vb S […]
Primary survey Highlights from the January 2015 issue. Mary Dawood, Editor
A mask tells us more than a face (Editor’s choice) As ED clinicians we often pride ourselves on recognising the sickest patients by how they look, this skill is tacit and one that is the result of experience and longevity in emergency care. Our psychiatric colleagues have long accumulated significant research into disturbances in affect […]
The Role of IO in Trauma: A #FOAMed Debate
The Emergency Medicine Journal recently published a review of intraosseous access experience from the Royal Army Medical Corps. This review documents 1,014 IO devices and 5,124 infusions of blood products, medications, and fluids. There were no major complications, and the rate of minor complications was extraordinarily low – the most frequent being device failure, occurring […]
Highlights from the October issue of EMJ
Emerg Med J 2014;31:793 doi:10.1136/emermed-2014-204282 Highlights from this issue Ian K Maconochie, Deputy editor Conducting emergency research when consent and consultation are a challenge (editor’s choice) Studies in patients with emergency conditions that render them unable to give consent have been very difficult to conduct owing to ethical considerations. The guidance offered in the commentary […]