No abstract

Early diagnosis of haemorrhagic shock (HS) might be difficult because of compensatory mechanisms. Clinical scoring systems aimed at predicting transfusion needs might assist in early identification of patients with HS. The Shock Index (SI) - defined as heart rate divided by systolic BP - has been proposed as a simple tool to identify patients with HS. This systematic review discusses the SI's utility post-trauma in predicting critical bleeding (CB). We searched the databases MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, Scopus and PubMed from their commencement to 1 September 2013. Studies that described an association with SI and CB, defined as at least 4 units of packed red blood cells (pRBC) or whole blood within 24 h, were included. Of the 351 located articles identified by the initial search strategy, five met inclusion criteria. One study pertained to the pre-hospital setting, one to the military, two to the in-hospital setting, and one included analysis of both pre-hospital and in-hospital values. The majority of papers assessed predictive properties of the SI in ≥10 units pRBC in the first 24 h. The most frequently suggested optimal SI cut-off was ≥0.9. An association between higher SI and bleeding was demonstrated in all studies. The SI is a readily available tool and may be useful in predicting CB on arrival to hospital. The evaluation of improved utility of the SI by performing and recording at earlier time-points, including the pre-hospital phase, is indicated.

Objectives: To evaluate whether pharmacists completing the medication management plan in the medical discharge summary reduced the rate of medication errors in these summaries. Design: Unblinded, cluster randomised, controlled investigation of medication management plans for patients discharged after an inpatient stay in a general medical unit. Setting: The Alfred Hospital, an adult major referral hospital in metropolitan Melbourne, with an annual emergency department attendance of about 60000 patients. Participants: The evaluation included patients' discharge summaries for the period 16 March 2015 – 27 July 2015. Interventions: Patients randomised to the intervention arm received medication management plans completed by a pharmacist (intervention); those in the control arm received standard medical discharge summaries (control). Main outcome measures: The primary outcome variable was a discharge summary including a medication error identified by an independent assessor. Results: At least one medication error was identified in the summaries of 265 of 431 patients (61.5%) in the control arm, compared with 60 of 401 patients (15%) in the intervention arm (P<0.01). The absolute risk reduction was 46.5% (95% CI, 40.7–52.3%); the number needed to treat (NNT) to avoid one error was 2.2 (95% CI, 1.9–2.5). The absolute risk reduction for a high or extreme risk error was 9.6% (95% CI, 6.4–12.8%), with an NNT of 10.4 (95% CI, 7.8–15.5). Conclusions: Pharmacists completing medication management plans in the discharge summary significantly reduced the rate of medication errors (including errors of high and extreme risk) in medication summaries for general medical patients. Australia New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry number: ACTRN12616001034426.

Objective: To determine if COVID-19 State of Emergency (SOE) restrictions were associated with a reduction in presentations to two urban EDs in Melbourne, Victoria. Methods: This retrospective observational study included adult patients presenting to The Alfred and Sandringham Hospital EDs during the first month of stage 2 and 3 SOE restrictions (26 March-25 April 2020). Patients transferred from other hospitals or diagnosed with COVID-19 were excluded. The primary outcome was the average number of presentations per day. Secondary outcomes included the average daily number of presentations for pre-specified subgroups defined by triage category and diagnosis. The independent impact of SOE restrictions, adjusted for underlying trends in attendance, was determined using negative binomial regression and reported as an incident rate ratio (IRR) with a 95% confidence interval (CI). Results: Average daily attendance during the exposure period was 174.7. In the absence of SOE restrictions, 278.8 presentations per day were predicted, a reduction of 37.3% (IRR 0.63, 95% CI 0.59-0.67). Attendance was lower than anticipated for all triage categories (especially category 5 [IRR 0.51, 95% CI 0.44-0.59]) and diagnostic groups (including circulatory problems [IRR 0.62, 95% CI 0.50-0.76] and injury [IRR 0.58, 95% CI 0.53-0.63]). There were fewer than predicted presentations for several sentinel diagnoses, including gastroenteritis (IRR 0.27, 95% CI 0.17-0.42) and renal colic (IRR 0.55, 95% CI 0.33-0.92). Conclusions: SOE restrictions were associated with a significant reduction in ED presentations across a range of triage categories and diagnoses. Public health messaging should emphasise the importance of timely ED attendance for acute illness and injury.

Patient or visitor perpetrated workplace violence (WPV) has been reported to be a common occurrence within the ED. No universal definition of violence or recording of such events exists. In addition ED staff are often reluctant to report violent incidents. The true incidence of WPV is therefore unclear. This systematic review aimed to quantify WPV in EDs. The association of WPV to drug and alcohol exposure was explored. The databases MEDLINE, Embase, PsycInfo and the Cochrane Library were searched from their commencement to 10 March 2016. MeSH terms and text words for ED, violence and aggression were combined. A meta-analysis was conducted on the primary outcome variable-proportion of violent patients among total ED presentations. A secondary meta-analysis used studies reporting on proportion of drug and alcohol affected patients occurring within the violent population. The search yielded a total of 8720 records. A total of 7235 were unique and underwent abstract screening. A total of 22 studies were deemed relevant according to inclusion and exclusion criteria. Retrospective study design predominated, analysing mainly security records and incident reports. The rates of violence from individual studies ranged from 1 incident to 172 incidents per 10 000 presentations. The pooled incidence suggests there are 36 violent patients for every 10 000 presentations to the ED (95% confidence interval 0.0030-0.0043). WPV in the ED was commonly reported. There is wide heterogeneity across the study methodology, definitions and rates. More standardised recording and reporting may inform preventive measures and highlight effective management strategies.

No abstract

No abstract

Partnering between medical staff and pharmacists to jointly chart initial medications on admission significantly reduced inpatient medication errors (including errors of high and extreme risk) among general medical and emergency short-stay patients with complex medication regimens or polypharmacy.