Emergency Medicine Australasia

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a common occurrence in Australian society, with far-reaching health, social and economic implications.

Body packing, pushing and stuffing are methods by which people conceal illicit drugs in order to transport them across borders or evade police discovery.

Amphetamines are the most commonly used illicit drugs after cannabis, and Australia has one of the highest rates of their usage in the world

Patients who are brought to hospital by ambulance frequently have to wait before being accepted into the treatment area in the hospital’s emergency department (ED) because of ED overcrowding.

Intravenous magnesium sulphate has been the standard treatment for the sting of various jellyfish, including Irukandji, recommended by the Queensland Ambulance Service, the Irukandji Taskforce (a Queensland Government-sponsored taskforce), and other prehospital retrieval services.

Use of SMS messages in emergencies is just one of the positives to have resulted from the experience in managing two burns disasters at Royal Perth Hospital, a new study has found.

Drinking complimentary cocktails at a popular tourist bar in Indonesia resulted in a young woman requiring hospital treatment for methanol poisoning, sparking a warning from doctors for tourists to be wary of potentially tainted drinks in southeast Asia.

The Heart Foundation’s risk classification of emergency department patients with chest pain offers only fair prediction of myocardial infarction (heart attack), and this prediction is not sufficient to justify admission to coronary care for all patients classified as high risk using these criteria.

Ecstasy is a commonly used illicit recreational drug enjoying popularity for its stimulant effects. One in four men aged 20-29 report having used it. Although it is perceived as a “safe” drug, a report of three cases of acute coronary syndrome after ecstasy use has just been published online as an “early view” article in Emergency Medicine Australasia, the journal of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine.

Nearly two in every five emergency department (ED) patients in rural areas of Australia drink alcohol at risky levels, a new study has found.

Despite government media releases to the contrary, the National Health Call Centre Network (healthdirect Australia) is dismally failing its reported aim of “helping to ease demand on emergency wards and general practice”, according to an editorial in the latest issue of Emergency Medicine Australasia, the journal of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine.

Demand for public emergency department (ED) care increased by 37% over the decade ending at the beginning of 2010.

Doctors treating a man with severe vertigo two days after a grappling injury while training in mixed martial arts have called for stricter regulations if the sports are allowed to continue.

A study of hydrofluoric acid poisoning published as an Early View article in Emergency Medicine Australasia, the journal of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine, has prompted warning calls for special care when handling common products containing it.

A study of electronic data generated from over 33,000 emergency department attendances has raised concerns about the “fitness for purpose” of the information for care and planning, information sharing, research and quality assurance. The research is published as an Early View paper in Emergency Medicine Australasia, the journal of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine.

Potentially fatal exercise-associated hyponatraemia (EAH) occurs in trekkers on the Kokoda Trail as well as in endurance athletics.

Prevention of falls in the elderly is essential if we are to reduce the death rate, a Perth study has found. The study is published in an Early View article in Emergency Medicine Australasia, the journal of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine.

Hospital access block and emergency department overcrowding continues to be a problem in tertiary hospitals in New Zealand.

Emergency medicine is at the front line of managing futile treatment and providing the best death possible in all circumstances, according to the authors of a paper published as an “Early View” in Emergency Medicine Australasia, the journal of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine.

Doctors need to stop being used as agents of the drug industry in the complex financial arrangement between drug companies and consumers, according to the writers of an editorial in the latest issue of Emergency Medicine Australasia, the journal of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine.

Patients around the world will have noticed drug company logos on items on their doctors’ desks, but may not be aware that sponsorship extends to advertising in medical journals and even freebie trips for doctors.