Browsing by Author "Van As, Sebastian A B"

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    Short emergency department length of stay attributed to full-body digital radiography - a review of 3 paediatric cases
    (2006) Koning, Lizanne; Douglas, Tania S; Pitcher, Richard; Van As, Sebastian A B
    Multiple casualties strain the resources of emergency departments. Two polytraumatised patients arriving simultaneously can overwhelm a small community hospital, while the capacity of a large urban emergency department does not extend beyond the treatment of 3 - 4 severely injured patients at the same time using the routine trauma protocol.1 Emergency department overcrowding because of multiple casualties leads to increased length of stay and can have an adverse effect on patient outcome. Variations from the norm in trauma management, particularly during the initial assessment and resuscitation phase of care, during a multiple casualty incident, has been associated with 10% and 9% incidence of preventable morbidity and mortality, respectively.2 Inadequate evaluation may contribute to up to 30% of early deaths in children with polytrauma.3