Mechanisms of injury requiring trauma centre care
The mechanisms of injury associated with the need for trauma centre care have been added to the Trauma Teams page.
Rechallenging penicillin ‘allergy’
A small section about when it may be safe to re-challenge a patient with penicillin ‘allergy’ has been added to the Anaphylaxis page.
‘Sepsis six’ care bundle
Details of the ;Sepsis six’ care bundle and more specific recommendations regarding the initial IV fluid volume in sepsis have been added to the Management of Sepsis page.
Role of CT in suspected ureteric colic
The Renal calculi page has been updates with some additional information regarding the use of CT in the diagnosis of suspected ureteric colic.
Progression of sepsis and lactate
The Assessment of Sepsis page has been updated with some additional information regarding the likely progression of patients with severe sepsis to septic shock and additional information about the role of lactate in sepsis .
Perineal dermatome diagram
A new image of the Dermatomes of the perineum has been added to the topic of Spinal Cord Injury in the Trauma section.
Benign acute childhood myositis
A small segment on benign acute childhood myositis has been added to the Limping Child page in the Paediatrics section.
Definition of an MI
The Coronary Artery Disease page has been revised and a page called Definition of MI has been created. This page now links directly from the Troponins in ACS page.
Cardiac biomarkers overhaul
The previous page Cardiac Biomarkers has been extensively revised and subdivided into the following pages: Troponins in ACS, Non ACS Causes of Elevated Troponin and Other Cardiac Biomarkers. In addition, the various troponin values have all been converted to the current standard of ng/L.
E point septal separation figure
A new figure demonstrating echocardiographic EPSS measurement has been added.
Echocardiographic methods of cardiac output measurement
The Cardiac Output Measurement page has been updated with detailed information regarding the echocardiographic methods of measurement of cardiac output most applicable to ED patients.
Vaginal examination in mild first trimester bleeding
The Abnormal Vaginal Bleeding page has been updated with information regarding the usefulness (or lack thereof) of the vaginal examination in selected cases.
Poll results – the analgesic most used for severe pain in the ED
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.
Quizzes and polls pages
New pages have been created containing the all the quizzes and polls published so far. These can be accessed though the Web features page.
NEAT (‘4 – 6 hour rule’) poll has opened
After a couple of gentle polls, we thought we would touch on something a bit more controversial with this one.- ‘What effect has the National Emergency Access Target (‘the 4 hour rule’) or the ‘6 hour rule’ in NZ, had on the health system overall?’. Cast your vote now. (Results)
Logistic regression
The page Correlations Between Variables has been updated with some additional information regarding logistic regression. I bet you can’t wait to read it!
Significance of pyuria in ureteric colic
The Renal Calculi page has been updated with information about the sensitivity and specificity of pyuria for UTI in patients with acute ureteric colic.The strange formatting of the lower half of the page has also been corrected.
Acetyl fentanyl
Information regarding acetyl fentanyl has been added to the Opioid Agonists page following a spate of deaths from this agent in the US..
Transfusion ratio
The Treatment of Hypovolaemia page has been updated with details of the preferred transfusion ratio of packed cells, FFP and platelets.