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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.

NRTIs and, specifically tenofovir at therapeutic concentrations, inhibit telomerase activity leading to accelerated shortening of TL in activated PBMCs. The relationship between NRTI, reduced telomerase activity, and accelerated aging requires further investigation in HIV-infected individuals on cART.

Objectives: This study aimed to assess analgesia provided by acupuncture, alone or in combination with pharmacotherapy, to patients presenting to emergency departments with acute low back pain, migraine or ankle sprain. Design: A pragmatic, multicentre, randomised, assessor‐blinded, equivalence and non‐inferiority trial of analgesia, comparing acupuncture alone, acupuncture plus pharmacotherapy, and pharmacotherapy alone for alleviating pain in the emergency department. Setting, participants: Patients presenting to emergency departments in one of four tertiary hospitals in Melbourne with acute low back pain, migraine, or ankle sprain, and with a pain score on a 10‐point verbal numerical rating scale (VNRS) of at least 4. Main outcome measures: The primary outcome measure was pain at one hour (T1). Clinically relevant pain relief was defined as achieving a VNRS score below 4, and statistically relevant pain relief as a reduction in VNRS score of greater than 2 units. Results: 1964 patients were assessed between January 2010 and December 2011; 528 patients with acute low back pain (270 patients), migraine (92) or ankle sprain (166) were randomised to acupuncture alone (177 patients), acupuncture plus pharmacotherapy (178) or pharmacotherapy alone (173). Equivalence and non‐inferiority of treatment groups was found overall and for the low back pain and ankle sprain groups in both intention‐to‐treat and per protocol (PP) analyses, except in the PP equivalence testing of the ankle sprain group. 15.6% of patients had clinically relevant pain relief and 36.9% had statistically relevant pain relief at T1; there were no between‐group differences. Conclusion: The effectiveness of acupuncture in providing acute analgesia for patients with back pain and ankle sprain was comparable with that of pharmacotherapy. Acupuncture is a safe and acceptable form of analgesia, but none of the examined therapies provided optimal acute analgesia. More effective options are needed. Trial registration: Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry, ACTRN12609000989246.

Background Falls are a leading reason for older people presenting to the emergency department (ED), and many experience further falls. Little evidence exists to guide secondary prevention in this population. This randomised controlled trial (RCT) investigated whether a 6-month telephone-based patient-centred program—RESPOND—had an effect on falls and fall injuries in older people presenting to the ED after a fall. Methods and findings Community-dwelling people aged 60–90 years presenting to the ED with a fall and planned for discharge home within 72 hours were recruited from two EDs in Australia. Participants were enrolled if they could walk without hands-on assistance, use a telephone, and were free of cognitive impairment (Mini-Mental State Examination > 23). Recruitment occurred between 1 April 2014 and 29 June 2015. Participants were randomised to receive either RESPOND (intervention) or usual care (control). RESPOND comprised (1) home-based risk assessment; (2) 6 months telephone-based education, coaching, goal setting, and support for evidence-based risk factor management; and (3) linkages to existing services. Primary outcomes were falls and fall injuries in the 12-month follow-up. Secondary outcomes included ED presentations, hospital admissions, fractures, death, falls risk, falls efficacy, and quality of life. Assessors blind to group allocation collected outcome data via postal calendars, telephone follow-up, and hospital records. There were 430 people in the primary outcome analysis—217 randomised to RESPOND and 213 to control. The mean age of participants was 73 years; 55% were female. Falls per person-year were 1.15 in the RESPOND group and 1.83 in the control (incidence rate ratio [IRR] 0.65 [95% CI 0.43–0.99]; P = 0.042). There was no significant difference in fall injuries (IRR 0.81 [0.51–1.29]; P = 0.374). The rate of fractures was significantly lower in the RESPOND group compared with the control (0.05 versus 0.12; IRR 0.37 [95% CI 0.15–0.91]; P = 0.03), but there were no significant differences in other secondary outcomes between groups: ED presentations, hospitalisations or falls risk, falls efficacy, and quality of life. There were two deaths in the RESPOND group and one in the control group. No adverse events or unintended harm were reported. Limitations of this study were the high number of dropouts ( n = 93); possible underreporting of falls, fall injuries, and hospitalisations across both groups; and the relatively small number of fracture events. Conclusions In this study, providing a telephone-based, patient-centred falls prevention program reduced falls but not fall injuries, in older people presenting to the ED with a fall. Among secondary outcomes, only fractures reduced. Adopting patient-centred strategies into routine clinical practice for falls prevention could offer an opportunity to improve outco...

Objective: To report the incidence of fever among patients who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. Methods: Retrospective cohort study of patients who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 at a single centre. Temperature at time of testing and on repeat testing within 24 h were collected. Results: At the time of testing, fever was detected (sensitivity) in 16 of 86 (19%; 95% confidence interval 11-28) episodes of positive tests for SARS-CoV-2. With repeat testing, fever was detected in 18 of 75 (24%; 95% confidence interval 15-35) episodes. Conclusions: In an Australian hospital, screening for fever lacked sensitivity for detection of patients with SARS-CoV-2.

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