BMJ

An Emergency Medicine Research Priority Setting Partnership to establish the top 10 research priorities in emergency medicine

Defining research priorities in a specialty as broad as emergency medicine is a significant challenge. In order to fund and complete the most important research projects, it is imperative that we ...
BMJ

Human factors and error prevention in emergency medicine

Emergency departments are one of the highest risk areas in health care. Emergency physicians have to assemble and manage unrehearsed multidisciplinary teams with little notice and manage critically ...
BMJ

Modified early warning score predicts the need for hospital admission and inhospital mortality

Background: The modified early warning score (MEWS) is a useful tool for identifying hospitalised patients in need of a higher level of care and those at risk of inhospital death. Use of the MEWS as a ...
BMJ

Fluid resuscitation in prehospital trauma care: a consensus view

1 Specialist Registrar, Trauma and Orthopaedics, Birmingham, West Midlands, UK 2 Department of Trauma and Orthopaedics, Selly Oak Hospital, Birmingham, UK 3 Department of Accident and Emergency ...
BMJ

Could a D-dimer/fibrinogen ratio have a role in ruling-out venous thromboembolism?

Background Diagnosis of venous thromboembolism (VTE) requires chest CT angiography for pulmonary embolism and venous ultrasound for deep vein thrombosis. To reduce imaging, guidelines recommend ...
BMJ

Population based epidemiology of ankle sprains attending accident and emergency units in the West Midlands of England, and a survey of UK practice for severe ankle sprains

Objectives: To estimate the incidence of ankle sprains and severe ankle sprains attending accident and emergency (A&E) units; to describe current practice for severe ankle sprains in A&E units in the ...
BMJ

Does the Manchester triage system detect the critically ill?

BACKGROUND: The Manchester triage system (MTS) is now widely used in UK accident and emergency (A&E) departments. No clinical outcome studies have yet been published to validate the system. Safety of ...
BMJ

Flumazenil use in benzodiazepine overdose in the UK: a retrospective survey of NPIS data

Correspondence to Dr Aravindan Veiraiah, NPIS Edinburgh (Scottish Poisons Information Bureau), The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH16 4SA, UK; drveiraiah{at}doctors.org.uk Objective ...
BMJ

Case management of patients who frequently present to a Scottish emergency department

Aims: To assess whether case management of frequent attenders to the emergency department (ED) reduces subsequent attendances made by these patients. Methods: Patients who attended the ED 10 times or ...
BMJ

Intravenous versus oral paracetamol for acute pain in adults in the emergency department setting: a prospective, double-blind, double-dummy, randomised controlled trial

Objective To determine if intravenous paracetamol was superior to oral paracetamol as an adjunct to opioids in the management of moderate to severe pain in the ED setting. Methods A prospective, ...
BMJ

A review of emergency equipment carried and procedures performed by UK front line paramedics on paediatric patients

Objectives: In 1997 a review of paramedic practice upon adult patients in the UK found many inconsistencies and deficiencies in basic care. A follow up review in 2002 identified widespread improvement ...
BMJ

The PAWS score: validation of an early warning scoring system for the initial assessment of children in the emergency department

Objective: To devise a physiology-based scoring system for assessment of children presenting to the emergency department (ED) and to validate the system retrospectively. Study design: Age-dependent ...