Poll results

The muscle relaxant poll has now closed with about twice as many people choosing rocuronium over suxamethonium as their preferred agent. When we ran this poll in 2013 the results were almost exactly the opposite (2/3 of people preferred suxamethonium).

The Laryngoscopy poll has now closed – with interesting results. Just a fraction over half (52%) of respondents routinely use a conventional laryngoscope for intubation. Would be interesting to know if this was because of choice or lack of availability of a video scope. Would be interesting to run this poll again in 5 years … Read more

Well the verdict is in – 65% of respondents think the new format ACEM OSCE exam is better than the old clinical exam format. The poll is now closed.

The poll on the new format ACEM SAQs has now closed with a wide spread of opinions. Overall it looks like the question format is considered to be marginally easier than the previous ACEM SAQ format.

Comment It looks like most people think that examination skills are currently given enough or slightly too much importance in the ACEM Fellowship exam. This might be an interesting poll to repeat after the change of exam format in 2015.

Comment Recent evidence suggests that cooling to 36C is as good as cooling to lower temperatures in patients with ROSC following cardiac arrest. However this still means that active temperature management is required and hyperthermia should definitely be avoided.

Comment About 63% of respondents would start some form of anti-coagulation from the ED, whilst the remainder would leave the decision to one of the patient’s treating doctors. Although the risk of stroke appears to be highest in the first week after new onset AF, it is not clear whether immediate anti-coagulation reduces this risk. … Read more

Comment Routine anti-emetics do not reduce the incidence of nausea or vomiting associated with opioid use, and may cause adverse effects. A more selective approach is recommended targeting patients who are already nauseated, have an abdominal cause for their pain, or the elderly.

The final results of the preferred anti-emetic agent poll are in with ondansetron (69%) clearly more popular than metoclopramide (31%). Surprisingly, no-one voted for prochlorperazine or tropisitron. The results are encouraging as ondansetron apppears to have a greater effect on nausea and vomiting from non migranous causes than metoclopramide, with fewer adverse effects. Metoclopramide is … Read more

Final results – the 4/6 hour rule is mostly useless but mostly harmless! Opinion was very evenly divided on the subject. 32% thought it hadn’t changed anything; 26% each thought it had improved things a bit or made things a bit worse; 11% thought it had improved things considerably and 5% thought it had made … Read more

The results of the poll on the analgesic most commonly used to treat severe pain in ED patients demonstrated that a clear majority (84%) of respondents use morphine and only 16% use fentanyl. Interestingly no respondents use pethidine.

The poll results of the most commonly used muscle relaxant demonstrated 65% of respondents preferred suxamethonium over rocuronium. Will be interesting to see if this proportion is the same in a few years time.