The Accuracy of Rapid Emergency Medicine Score in Predicting Mortality in Non-Surgical Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Background: Emergency department (ED) physicians often need to quickly assess patients and determine vital signs to prioritize them by the severity of their condition and make optimal treatment decisions. Effective triage requires optimal scoring systems to accelerate and positively influence the treatment of trauma cases. To this end, a variety of scoring systems have been developed to enable rapid assessment of ED patients. The present systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to investigate the accuracy of the rapid emergency medicine score (REMS) system in predicting the mortality rate in non-surgical ED patients. Methods: A systematic search of articles published between 1990 and 2020 was conducted using various scientific databases (Medline, Embase, Scopus, Web of Science, ProQuest, Cochrane Library, IranDOC, Magiran, and Scientific Information Database). Both cross-sectional and cohort studies assessing the REMS system to predict mortality in ED settings were considered. Two reviewers appraised the selected articles independently using the National Institutes of Health (NIH) quality assessment tool. The random-effects model was used for meta-analysis. I2 index and Q statistic were used to examine heterogeneity between the articles. Results: The search resulted in 1,310 hits from which, 29 articles were eventually selected. Out of these, for 25 articles, the area under the curve value of REMS ranged from 0.52 to 0.986. The predictive power of REMS for the in-hospital mortality rate was high in 19 articles (67.85%) and low in nine articles (32.15%). Conclusion: The results showed that the REMS system is an effective tool to predict mortality in non-surgical patients presented to the ED. However, further evidence using high-quality design studies is required to substantiate our findings.

Helicopter Emergency Medical Services in East Azerbaijan province: Assessment of patients' outcome.

BACKGROUND: In this study, we aimed to evaluate the outcomes of patients transported by Helicopter Emergency Medical Services in East Azerbaijan Province. METHODS: This retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted on patients transported by the HEMS centre of Tabriz from August 2014 to March 2017. Records of the centre were used to collect data. Statistical analysis was performed by SPSS software version 20; the statistical significance level was considered below 0.05. RESULTS: In this study, 268 patients were transferred to Tabriz hospitals by 167 missions performed. The mean age of patients was 34.26±19.43, and 173 (65%) patients were male. The most common reason for call-out was the need for professional care (91.4%). The target of the majority of missions was on countryside routes. The mean distance of destinations was about 99.13±35.9 Kms, with a mean transference time of 54.68±14.17 minutes, while the mean estimated ground route time was 86.38±26.26 minutes. The most prevalent diagnosis was trauma; The Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) and vital signs of the majority of patients were above 13 and stable, respectively. About 98 percent of patients received fluid therapy, and 71 percent were immobilized, and only 6 percent needed intubation. Also, 28 percent of patients needed Intensive Care Unit (ICU), 56 percent of whom passed away later. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that Tabriz HEMS missions have reduced the patient transport time and also made the mortality rate closer to international standards.

A young woman with traumatic vertebral artery occlusion: a case report.

Vertebral artery occlusion (VAO) may result from closed head or neck trauma and can be lifethreatening due to brain-stem and cerebellar infarction. CT angiography is recommended as a screening diagnostic tool in selected patients after blunt cervical trauma. A 24-year-old woman was admitted to our emergency department with left hemiplegia two days after motor vehicle collision. Final diagnosis of occlusion of the right vertebral artery was made in CT angiography. She was treated with anticoagulant for 4 days then discharged with 5/5 muscle forces. She was advised to continue warfarin and atorvastatin for her after discharge.

National emergency X-radiography utilization study guidelines versus Canadian C-Spine guidelines on trauma patients, a prospective analytical study.

INTRODUCTION: The most common cause of hospital emergency department visits is trauma resulting from a variety of underlying mechanisms. Unknown neck and spinal cord injuries and a lack of early diagnosis can have catastrophic consequences, such as paralysis of some or all limbs. The use of imaging techniques reduces the number of patients suffering from severe injuries. OBJECTIVE: To assess and compare the effectiveness and ease of utilizing two different sets of guidelines, the National Emergency X-Radiography Utilization Study guidelines (NEXUS) and the Canadian C-Spine guidelines (CCR), on trauma patients. METHODS: This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences. Of all the patients presenting to the hospital, 200 trauma patients were randomly included in the study. NEXUS and CCR were surveyed for each patient, and subsequent radiographies were also requested. The specificity and sensitivity of each of the methods was calculated, and the two methods were compared using Kendall's W test. RESULTS: A total of 200 trauma patients who met the inclusion criteria were included in the study. A total of 69.5% of the patients were male, and 30.5% were female. According to NEXUS guidelines, 47.5% of the patients were required to undergo neck radiography. According to CCR guidelines, 57.5% of the patients were required to undergo neck radiography. The sensitivity was found to be 90% for neck radiography by both NEXUS and CCR guidelines, while specificities were found to be 54.73% and 44.2% for NEXUS and CCR guidelines, respectively. CONCLUSION: This study showed that the two guidelines have the same sensitivity for evaluating which trauma patients need to undergo radiography. It seems that the NEXUS guidelines have the same effectiveness as CCR for determining which trauma patients need to undergo radiography. They also perform better than CCR guidelines in terms of ruling out which cases need no further radiologic investigation.

Challenges of Hospital Response to the Twin Earthquakes of August 21, 2012, in East Azerbaijan, Iran.

OBJECTIVE: As the cornerstone of any health system, hospitals have a crucial role in response to disasters. Because hospital experiences in disaster response can be instructive, this study examined the challenges of hospital response to the twin earthquakes of 2012 in East Azerbaijan, Iran. METHODS: In this qualitative study, the challenges of hospital response in the East Azerbaijan earthquakes were examined through focus group discussions. Participants were selected purposefully, and focus group discussions continued until data saturation. The data were manually analyzed by using Strauss and Corbin's recommended method. RESULTS: Hospitals were faced with 6 major challenges: lack of preparedness, lack of coordination, logistic deficiencies, patient/injured management, communication management, and other smaller challenges that were categorized in the "other challenges" category. The main theme was the lack of preparedness for disasters. CONCLUSION: Although hospital preparedness is emphasized in credible references, this study showed that lack of preparedness is a major challenge for hospitals during disasters. Thus, it seems that hospital officials' disaster risk perception and hospital preparedness should be improved. In addition, hospital preparedness assessment indexes should be included in the hospital accreditation process. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2017;11:422-430).

Evaluation of preventable trauma death in emergency department of Imam Reza hospital.

BACKGROUND: Trauma is considered as a worldwide problem despite socio-economic development. Motor vehicle accidents (MVAs) are the most important cause of trauma. Trauma related deaths are mostly preventable. This study aimed to investigate the causes and prevention of death in trauma patients. METHODS: This retrospective, descriptive-analytic study assessed 100 trauma patients referred to our emergency department (ED) from January 2013 to Januanry 2015. The included patients were those with trauma died after arrival at our ED. Age, sex, cause of trauma, clinical causes of death, causes of death defined by autopsy, way of transfer to the ED, time of ambulance arrival at the scene of trauma, and time elapsed to enter the ED from the scene of trauma were studied. RESULTS: In the 100 patients, 21 (21%) patients were female and 79 (79%) male. Forty-three patients were older than 60 years. Trauma was largely due to pedestrian accidents in 31% of the patients, and 33% had a hypo-volemic shock. About 80% of deaths were due to intra-cranial hemorrhage (ICH) or intra-ventricular hemorrhage (IVH), and spinal injuries were not preventable. Autopsy revealed that 28% of the patients suffered from internal injuries. Autopsy revealed that 19% of the deaths were not preventable and 81% were considered preventable. In our patients, 76 were transferred to the hospital by emergency medicine services (EMS). Analysis of time for ambulance arrival to the scene and frequency of death revealed that 52.2% of the deaths occurred between 11 and 15 minutes. Analysis of time for admission to the ED from the scene of trauma showed that 74.6% deaths occurred between 6 and 10 minutes. CONCLUSIONS: The rate of hospital preventable deaths is about 80%, a high mortality rate, which denotes a lack of proper diagnosis and treatment. The time for arrival of EMS at the scene of trauma is longer than that in other countries.

Evaluation of preventable trauma death in emergency department of Imam Reza hospital / 世界急诊医学杂志（英文）

@#BACKGROUND: Trauma is considered as a worldwide problem despite socio-economic development. Motor vehicle accidents (MVAs) are the most important cause of trauma. Trauma related deaths are mostly preventable. This study aimed to investigate the causes and prevention of death in trauma patients. METHODS: This retrospective, descriptive-analytic study assessed 100 trauma patients referred to our emergency department (ED) from January 2013 to Januanry 2015. The included patients were those with trauma died after arrival at our ED. Age, sex, cause of trauma, clinical causes of death, causes of death defined by autopsy, way of transfer to the ED, time of ambulance arrival at the scene of trauma, and time elapsed to enter the ED from the scene of trauma were studied. RESULTS: In the 100 patients, 21 (21％) patients were female and 79 (79％) male. Forty-three patients were older than 60 years. Trauma was largely due to pedestrian accidents in 31％of the patients, and 33％ had a hypo-volemic shock. About 80％ of deaths were due to intra-cranial hemorrhage (ICH) or intra-ventricular hemorrhage (IVH), and spinal injuries were not preventable. Autopsy revealed that 28％ of the patients suffered from internal injuries. Autopsy revealed that 19％of the deaths were not preventable and 81％ were considered preventable. In our patients, 76 were transferred to the hospital by emergency medicine services (EMS). Analysis of time for ambulance arrival to the scene and frequency of death revealed that 52.2％ of the deaths occurred between 11 and 15 minutes. Analysis of time for admission to the ED from the scene of trauma showed that 74.6％ deaths occurred between 6 and 10 minutes. CONCLUSIONS: The rate of hospital preventable deaths is about 80％, a high mortality rate, which denotes a lack of proper diagnosis and treatment. The time for arrival of EMS at the scene of trauma is longer than that in other countries.

Novel treatment in refractory tic douloureux.

A patient with refractory trigeminal neuralgia (tic douloureux) was treated by intravenous magnesium sulfate successfully. Parenteral magnesium sulfate is an analgesic that expresses its analgesic effects through a noncompetitive blockade of the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors, which in turns inhibits calcium entry into the cells.