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Airway management is a cornerstone of emergency care. Development of a robust evidence base to support the practice of pre‐hospital emergency anaesthesia is key to the safety and evolution of this common but high‐risk procedure. This paper discusses the benefits, risks, insights, learning and limitations of the use of an airway registry in pre‐hospital and retrieval medicine, for both research and quality improvement purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing burden of documentation experienced by doctors threatens the efficiency in EDs and increases the likelihood of documentation errors. Medical scribes afford the opportunity to allay this burden by removing a large component of the doctors' documentation task. Scribes have been embedded successfully in US EDs, and the effects have been mostly advantageous. The present paper provides a brief overview of the function of scribes and their potential contribution to Australian EDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To assess the prevalence of advance care directives in the residential aged care facilities within the catchment for a single ED and to assess the systems in place for development of those advance care directives with focus on documentation and communication. Methods: A de-identified, paper-based, mail-out survey of all 30 residential aged care facilities potentially referring to the Wollongong Hospital ED. Results: A total of 24 of 30 surveys were returned. Thirteen facilities reported at least some proportion of their residents having documented advance care directives. The median prevalence of advance care directives was 5% of residents (interquartile range 0–10%). Discussions with residents over advance care directives were reported in 9 of 24 survey returns. Not all facilities that reported documenting advance care directives had processes for regular review or 24 h access to the documentation for carers. Ten of the survey returns reported general practitioner involvement in advance care directive development. Conclusion: The facilities surveyed reported that advance care directives are the exception rather than the rule. Where they were developed some facilities did not ensure regular review, dissemination of the information nor consistent involvement of the GP. This demonstrates low utilization and poor application, which has implications for care appropriate to patients' wishes and for resource use within the ED. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]