Emergency Medicine Topic Homepage
Emergency Medicine Overview
Emergency medicine, also called oxiology, combines medical and surgical techniques to deal with a life-threatening emergency, in other words, a situation where, in the absence of treatment, the patient risks dying or having irreversible after-effects within a short time.
In addition to general medicine, the specific skills used in the context of emergency medicine are anaesthesiology, traumatology and toxicology.
...
Anaesthesiology plays an important role in both the treatment of pain in emergency medicine, and in the sedation of seriously ill people. The maintenance of a patient’s airway is a crucial aspect of emergency medicine. This is most commonly achieved either by non-invasive ventilation (face or nasal mask) or rapid sequence induction intubation, the latter of which requires intravenous sedation and a short-acting neuromuscular blocker.1,2 Sedation is also used to aid procedures such as the reduction of large joint dislocations and long bone fractures.2
Traumatology or trauma care is a major component of emergency medicine; injury kills 16,000 people worldwide everyday.3 The three most common causes of unintentional injury are; road traffic accidents, falls and burns, which result in the annual global deaths of 1.3 million, 283,000 and 238,000 people respectively.4,5 In addition to those killed, many more people are injured and require emergency hospitalisation.
Poisoning, intentional or unintentional, is the absorption of a hazardous substance which leads to illness or death. Unintentional poisoning caused the death of an estimated 346,000 people globally in 2004,6 and caused illness in thousands more people. The role of toxicology in emergency medicine is to determine the poison and determine a suitable antidote.
1. Mitchell E. et al. Introduction to Emergency Medicine. Lippincott Williams and Wilkins. 2005 ; 567-577
2. Fulde G.W.O. Emergency Medicine: The Principles of Practice. Elsevier Australia. 2009 : 12-32
3. World Health Organization. Global Burden of Injuries. WHO Geneva. 1999
4. Department of Injuries and Violence Prevention Noncommunicable Disease and Mental Health Cluster World Health Organization. A Graphical Overview of the Global Burden of Injury. The Injury Chart Book. WHO Geneva. 2002
5. World Health Organization. Facts about Injuries: Burns. WHO Geneva.
6. World Health Organization. Global Burden of Diseases. WHO Geneva
Content on this page
Advert for Healthcare Professionals only
Anti-Infectives Knowledge Network
The Anti-infectives Knowledge Network (AIKN), an initiative by Astellas Pharma Europe Ltd, shares the expertise and experience of a number of Thought leaders in the area of anti-infectives.
Topics from EBMT 2013 covered include:
- Advances in prevention strategies for cytomegalovirus (CMV)
- Managing infectious complications in HSCT recipients
- Prophylaxis and management of fungal infections
- Advances and on-going challenges in managing invasive fungal infections
This is in addition to reports and sponsored presentations from ISICEM 2013 and our 2012 coverage from a number of meetings including ECCMID and ISHAM.
Additional content recently added to the Anti-infectives Knowledge Network includes:
- Slides shared by the faculty from the Seeing CDI differently CME-accredited meeting held in London, February 2013. This meeting was funded by Astellas Pharma Europe Ltd. Content was driven by a scientific steering committee
- Free downloadable 2012 ESCMID Guidelines Supplement for the diagnosis and management of Candida diseases and related slides for use in your own presentations
Future 2013 coverage will include congress reports and interactive presentations from ECCMID, EHA, ESOT and TIMM.
We encourage you to return regularly to read the news, clinical insights, and essential information from the latest congresses.
Click here to enter the Anti-infectives Knowledge Network.
Date of Preparation: May 2013 AI/13/0011/EUf
Anti-Infectives Knowledge Centre
The last decade has seen an increase in the incidence and severity of Clostridium difficile infections (CDI), making it one of the most talked about disease topics with many recent congresses focusing on the disease.
As the leading cause of nosocomial diarrhoea in industrialised countries1 detection and treatment of CDI is extremely important. The ESCMID guidelines recommend that diagnosis is based upon both signs and symptoms and laboratory evidence of toxin producing C. difficile in stools.1,2 In addition antibiotic treatment to eradicate severe C. difficle infection is recommended in these guidelines.2
The management of systemic fungal infections is also a major challenge for healthcare professionals. Due to the invasive nature of fungal infections, many treatments are pre-emptive and are therefore initiated without identifying the specific fungus involved. Targeted approaches will become a more viable option as the speed and delivery of diagnostic methods improve.
The Anti-infectives Knowledge Centre aims to provide you with the most recent information in the areas of both CDI and systemic fungal infections with regularly updated content to help assist in the fight against these diseases.
The Knowledge Centre currently provides information on CDI, including:
- Prevalence – the incidence of CDI and the factors that have been attributed to the rise in these infections
- Symptoms – the symptoms of CDI, including how pseudomembranous colitis manifests
- Recurrence – the impact of recurring infection on patient outcomes
- Diagnosis – the importance of early diagnosis and the diagnostic tests available
- Treatment – treatment options recommended by the current ESCMID guidelines
Additional information on systemic fungal infections will be added soon.
Enter the Anti-infectives Knowledge Centre
References
1. Crobach MJ, et al. Clin Microbiol Infect 2009; 15: 1053‐1066
2. Bauer MP, et al. Clin Microbiol Infect 2009; 15: 1067‐1079
Date of preparation November 2012 AI/12/0038/EUc
Drug News
FDA approves Ellipse and SJM Assura ICDs and CRT-Ds (St Jude Medical) for Heart Failure
15-06-2013The FDA has approved the next-generation Ellipse and SJM Assura portfolio of implantable Cardioverter Defibrillators (ICDs) and Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Defibrillators (CRT-Ds), from St...
FDA approves Nymalize (Arbor Pharmaceuticals) for Sub Arachnoid Haemorrhage
15-05-2013The FDA has approved the New Drug Application (NDA) for Nymalize (nimodipine) oral solution, from Arbor Pharmaceuticals, for the improvement of neurological outcome by reducing the incidence and...
FDA approves Kcentra (CSL Behring)to reverse vitamin K antagonist anticoagulation with major bleeding
01-05-2013The FDA on 29 April 2013 has approved Kcentra (Prothrombin Complex Concentrate, Human) for the urgent reversal of vitamin K antagonist (VKA) anticoagulation in adults with acute major bleeding....
Emergency Medicine Drug Data - A-Z
Possible searches include drugs or medicines (by brand, generic ingredient or drug class), diseases, conditions and more.
Advert for Healthcare Professionals only
Recent Drug Updates
Omacor
13-06-2013Post Myocardial Infarction Adjuvant treatment in secondary prevention after myocardial infarction, in addition to other standard therapy (e.g. statins, anti-platelet medicinal products, ...
REYATAZ
12-06-2013REYATAZ is indicated for the treatment of HIV-1 infected adults in combination with other antiretroviral medicinal products. In antiretroviral treatment experienced patients, the demonstration of...
Aprovel Film-Coated Tablets (sanofi-aventis Bristol-Myers Squibb SNC)
14-05-2013Aprovel is indicated in adults for the treatment of essential hypertension. It is also indicated for the treatment of renal disease in adult patients with hypertension and type 2 diabetes mellitus...
Clinical Guidelines
ESC Guidelines for the management of acute myocardial infarction in patients presenting with ST-segment elevation
Aug 2012The management of acute myocardial infarction continues to undergo major changes. Good practice..
... should be based on sound evidence, derived from well-conducted clinical trials. Because of the great number of trials on new treatments performed in recent years, and in view of new diagnostic tests, the ESC decided that it was opportune to upgrade the previous guidelines and appointed a Task Force. It must be recognized that, even when excellent clinical trials have been undertaken, their results are open to interpretation and that treatment options may be limited by resources. Indeed, cost-effectiveness is becoming an increasingly important issue when deciding upon therapeutic strategies.
Third universal definition of myocardial infarction
Aug 2012Myocardial infarction (MI) can be recognised by clinical features, including electrocardiographic..
... (ECG) findings, elevated values of biochemical markers (biomarkers) of myocardial necrosis, and by imaging, or may be defined by pathology. It is a major cause of death and disability worldwide. MI may be the first manifestation of coronary artery disease (CAD) or it may occur, repeatedly, in patients with established disease. Information on MI rates can provide useful information regarding the burden of CAD within and across populations, especially if standardized data are collected in a manner that distinguishes between incident and recurrent events. From the epidemiological point of view, the incidence of MI in a population can be used as a proxy for the prevalence of CAD in that population. The term ‘myocardial infarction’ may have major psychological and legal implications for the individual and society. It is an indicator of one of the leading health problems in the world and it is an outcome measure in clinical trials, observational studies and quality assurance programmes. These studies and programmes require a precise and consistent definition of MI.
Online CME
Atrial fibrillation: diagnosis and management
Apr 2013
... Hospital doctors, Practice nurses, Foundation doctors, Other healthcare professionals, Emergency medicine practitioners, Medical Students.
HIV infection: diagnostic picture tests
Apr 2013
... Hospital doctors, Practice nurses, Foundation doctors, Other healthcare professionals, Emergency medicine practitioners, Medical Students. After completing this module you should know the common causes of mucocutaneous lesions in patients with HIV infection. You should know how to recognise such lesions and, where appropriate, how to start treatment.
Clinical Trials
Diagnosis community-acquired pneumonia in emergency unit
02-05-2012To identify surrogat markes to identify community-acquired pneumonia among adultpatients having lower respiratory tract infection
Second study on the Effect of Teriparatide on Femoral Neck Fracture Healing
13-04-2012To determine the effect of 6 months of treatment with teriparatide 20 μg/day versus placebo on the proportion of men and postmenopausal women ≥50 years of age with successful fracture healing 24 months after internal fixation of a low trauma femoral neck fracture
Medical Videos
Medical Journal Abstracts
Pain Treatment for Older Adults During Prehospital Emergency Care: Variations by Patient Gender and Pain Severity
The Journal of Pain
Jun 2013
Older adults are less likely than younger adults to receive analgesic treatment during emergency department visits. Whether older adults are less likely to receive analgesics during protocolized prehospital care is unknown. We analyzed all ambulance transports in 2011 in the state of North Carolina and compared the..
The emergency department “carousel”: An ethnographically-derived model of the dynamics of patient flow
International Emergency Nursing
May 2013
Emergency department (ED) overcrowding reduces efficiency and increases the risk of medical error leading to adverse events. Technical solutions and models have done little to redress this. A full year’s worth of ethnographic observations of patient flow were undertaken, which involved making hand-written field-notes..
Medical Apps
ICE: In Case of Emergency - £2.99
Case files - Emergency Medicine - Free
WikEM - Free
Social Media
What's the most ridiculous rule your hospital has enforced?
on doc2doc... if they thought of sth else.Nobody I knew ever obeyed the rule in an emergency on one of the top floors - I wouldn´t have been able to perform a ...
What's the most ridiculous rule your hospital has enforced?
on doc2doc... Afterall in A&E we are not taking out tonsils or doing brain surgery so no risk of prion transmission that I can see. We also have a rules that ...
Medical myths in your specialty
on doc2doc... be a prima facie suspicion that the injuries are due to mechanical trauma, potentially including vigorous shaking. The crucial terms here are “ ...
Advert for Healthcare Professionals only