Blog

The Namibian Pre-hospital System

4358 2083 Jo Park-Ross

The Namibian Pre-hospital System Guest Author: Nadine Seymour & Edited by: Jo Park-Ross                                    Pre-hospital Emergency System in Namibia Namibia lies in Southwest Africa; it is largely and sparsely populated with vast distances.  Windhoek, the capital, is the largest city…

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Continuous Professional Development in South Africa

300 290 Craig Wylie

  As healthcare professionals we all have the responsibility to stay up to date with current practices & advancement within our respective medical disciplines. In South Africa the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) requires healthcare professionals to accumulate a total of 60 continuous educational unit (CEU) points over a 2 year period, of which 10 CEU points should…

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Ubuntu Hospital – African Virtual Hospital, Aeromedical & Ambulance Service

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Ubuntu Hospital & Ubuntu Aeromedical & Ambulance Service After much deliberation we decided not to ask for admitting privileges at St Emlyns (UK) or JANUS General (US) Imaginary Hospitals, but rather open an African virtual hospital. We felt that the developing world has it’s own specific set of unique problems that can only be expressed…

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Under pressure: Endotracheal tube cuffs

1267 570 Jo Park-Ross

What’s the problem? The average internal diameter of an adult trachea is 1,5 – 2 cm and this doesn’t leave much room for expansion. Over-inflated cuffs could be killing off tracheal mucosa by restricting blood flow, causing problems such as tracheal stenosis: a long term condition which will need a multi-disciplinary team and some expensive surgery…

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Sonar beams deflecting cognitive error

723 641 Kirsten Kingma

Sonar beams deflecting cognitive error Written by guest author: Victoria Stephen In the midst of treating a critically ill patient, whether it is pre-hospital, in the ED or ICU, time is not on your side. Multiple processes are taking place concurrently, as you take in the history, the patient’s appearance and vital signs. Your mind…

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SMACC, the FOAMed Highlight of the Year

3264 2448 Kirsten Kingma

  It has been of interest to note that the vast majority of the traffic on #badEM has been via Facebook sharing rather than twitter. This may mean that many of you guys haven’t discovered the full potential of the FOAM (Free Open Access Medicine) community. The SMACC (Social Media And Critical Care) conference is…

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No electrodes, no problem

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In the preparation for the 19th World Congress on Disaster & Emergency Medicine held in Cape Town – AfJEM asked African Emergency Medicine lovers something interesting – “Can you hack, concoct, devise or contrive a wanted resource using only locally available materials? You can..? Really..? Now you can show it off & win some amazing…

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The 2015 AfJEM Resource Innovation Competition

A resourceful shoulder to lean on

1100 612 Kat Evans

In the preparation for the 19th World Congress on Disaster & Emergency Medicine held in Cape Town – AfJEM asked African Emergency Medicine lovers something interesting – “Can you hack, concoct, devise or contrive a wanted resource using only locally available materials? You can..? Really..? Now you can show it off & win some amazing…

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EC Nurse from Malawi Lucia’s trick of the trade for O2 administration

916 1632 Kat Evans

In the preparation for the 19th World Congress on Disaster & Emergency Medicine held in Cape Town – AfJEM asked African Emergency Medicine lovers something interesting – “Can you hack, concoct, devise or contrive a wanted resource using only locally available materials? You can..? Really..? Now you can show it off & win some amazing…

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Homemade Needle Thoracentesis Simulation Vest – 4th Place – AfJEM Resource Innovation Competition 2015

3264 2448 Kat Evans

In the preparation for the 19th World Congress on Disaster & Emergency Medicine held in Cape Town – AfJEM asked African Emergency Medicine lovers something interesting – “Can you hack, concoct, devise or contrive a wanted resource using only locally available materials? You can..? Really..? Now you can show it off & win some amazing…

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Below elbow POP video

3264 2448 Kat Evans

Below Elbow POP This video aims to give simple steps in the procedure of paediatric below elbow plaster of paris (POP) Equipment: ortho wool, 2x medium rolls of POP, 1x large roll of POP Apply ortho wool: intervals covering 50% of your last throw, down the arm Applying the first POP: start at the wrist…

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Using condoms to avoid PPH related maternal deaths in Africa – Not what you think!

425 282 Willem Stassen

Reducing maternal death is the fifth Millennium Developmental Goal as Identified by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and has been a priority in Africa for many years.  In Africa, the maternal mortality rate is still unacceptably high – one woman dies every 7 minutes in Africa from birth-complications. The leading cause of maternal death is…

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The 2015 AfJEM Resource Innovation Competition

Nasal atomisation without the device – 5th place – AfJEM resource innovation competition 2015

1100 612 Kat Evans

In the preparation for the 19th World Congress on Disaster & Emergency Medicine held in Cape Town – AfJEM asked African Emergency Medicine lovers something interesting – “Can you hack, concoct, devise or contrive a wanted resource using only locally available materials? You can..? Really..? Now you can show it off & win some amazing…

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Introduction to out-of-hospital emergency systems in South Africa

710 384 Kirsten Kingma

Out-of-hospital Emergency System in South Africa Craig and Minh recently did a great podcast discussing many of the above points: listen to it here on the PHARM     South Africa has a unique out-of-hospital healthcare system, it is by far one of the more developed when compared to neighbouring countries and many standards meet…

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The art of the EMS Handover

1367 618 Craig Wylie

  “Handover of care is one of the most perilous procedures in medicine, and when carried out improperly can be a major contributory factor to subsequent error and harm to patients.” – Professor Sir John Lilleyman, Medical Director, National Patient Safety Agency, UK Scenario A patient with blunt traumatic brain injury was intubated prehospital using…

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