Background Emergency clinicians have a crucial role during public health emergencies and have been at the frontline during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study examined the knowledge, preparedness and experiences of Australian emergency nurses, emergency physicians and paramedics in managing COVID-19. Methods A voluntary cross-sectional study of members of the College of Emergency Nursing Australasia, the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine, and the Australasian College of Paramedicine was conducted using an online survey (June-September 2020). Results Of the 159 emergency nurses, 110 emergency physicians and 161 paramedics, 67.3-78% from each group indicated that their current knowledge of COVID-19 was ‘good to very good’. The most frequently accessed source of COVID-19 information was from state department of health websites. Most of the respondents in each group (77.6-86.4%) received COVID-19 specific training and education, including personal protective equipment (PPE) usage. One-third of paramedics reported that their workload ‘had lessened’ while 36.4-40% of emergency nurses and physicians stated that their workload had ‘considerably increased’. Common concerns raised included disease transmission to family, public complacency, and PPE availability. Conclusions Extensive training and education and adequate support helped prepare emergency clinicians to manage COVID-19 patients. Challenges included inconsistent and rapidly changing communications and availability of PPE.

Although MRSA and VRE were infrequently isolated, current disinfection and infection control protocols need to be improved given the greater recovery of organisms from the inner compared with outer surfaces of BP cuffs.

Local anaesthesia, in particular retrobulbar block, is commonly used to perform cataract surgery. Known complications of retrobulbar block include cranial nerve palsies, seizures and cardiorespiratory arrest. We report a case of brainstem anaesthesia causing apnoea and loss of consciousness in a man who received retrobulbar block. The likely mechanism is inadvertent dural puncture of the optic nerve sheath and local anaesthetic injection into the cerebrospinal fluid space. As in this case, the literature reports a short-lived period of anaesthesia with usually no long-term sequelae. Although rare, it is a life-threatening complication if the patient is not appropriately resuscitated. This case highlights the need for trained personnel, with suitable monitoring and adequate resuscitation facilities in order to perform this technique.

The Victorian style of tag was found to be the most efficient in terms of the time to complete a triage. The New Zealand tags were the easiest to use, easiest to fill in and the most preferred tag by the participants. We recommend that one of these tags be adapted for use as a nationwide system.