Essentials 1 The incidence of globally reported disasters from natural and technological hazards increased exponentially from 1960 to 2000 and has fallen slightly in the period 2006 to 2015 after a peak in 2005. 2 Deaths due to natural hazards…
Essentials 1 Mature retrieval systems act as a single point of entry for the referrer, preferably providing services by initiation of a single call to a systemwide phone number. 2 Retrieved patients are often unstable, at the margin of physiological…
Essentials 1 Ambulance call taking and dispatch is increasingly becoming computerized, which allows for the medical determination of the most appropriate response speed and skill set as well as telephone instructions for cardiopulmonary resuscitation and first aid. 2 Ambulance care…
Essentials 1 Ethics is about doing the right thing for the patient. 2 The morality of the doctor and the morality of the patient will influence decision making. 3 The two most common ethical dilemmas in emergency medicine concern treating…
Essentials 1 Privacy and confidentiality issues can be related to the physical environment in which care is given or to the personal health information involved in the patient’s care. 2 Breaching confidentiality of personal health information now breaks Australian and…
Essentials 1 Informed consent is an essential process for medical treatment that has ethical, legal and administrative elements. Complexities of the practical situation may result in deviation from the theoretical ideal. 2 Consent may be implied, verbal or written, and…
Essentials 1 The Coroners Court is a specialist court established to investigate certain types of deaths and fires. The purpose of these investigations is to consider ways that similar events may be prevented in the future. 2 Preparation for a…
Essentials 1 The emergency department is frequently the point of access to the mental health system. 2 Emergency physicians need to be able to distinguish between patients with physical and those with psychiatric illness. 3 Patients should only be committed…
Essentials 1 Emergency medicine training programs need explicit curricular objectives, effective learning and teaching strategies, and valid and reliable assessment methods. 2 Technology, social media and online collaboration are affecting the way emergency medicine trainees and their supervisors learn and…
Essentials 1 Emergency medicine as an academic discipline has achieved maturity, with medical student teaching a core business of every emergency department in the country, with structured terms in emergency medicine now considered an essential part of any medical curriculum.…