Introduction: Although emergency departments (EDs) in Canada's rural areas serve approximately 20% of the population, a serious problem in access to health care services has emerged. Objective: The objective of this project was to compare access to support services in rural EDs between British Columbia and Quebec. Methods: Rural EDs were identified through the Canadian Healthcare Association's Guide to Canadian Healthcare Facilities. We selected hospitals with 24/7 ED physician coverage and hospitalization beds that were located in rural communities (using the rural and small town definition from Statistics Canada). Data were collected from ministries of health, local health authorities, and ED statistics. A telephone interview was administered to collect denominative user data statistics and determine the status of services. Results: British Columbia has more rural EDs (n 5 34) than Quebec (n 5 26). EDs in Quebec have higher volumes (19,310 versus 7,793 annual visits). With respect to support services, 81% of Quebec rural EDs have a 24/7 on-call general surgeon compared to 12% for British Columbia. Nearly 75% of Quebec rural EDs have 24/7 access to computed tomography versus only 3% for British Columbia. Rural EDs in Quebec are also supported by a greater proportion of intensive care units (88% versus 15%); however, British Columbia appears to have more medevac aircraft/helicopters than Quebec. Conclusions: The results suggest that major differences exist in access to support services in rural EDs in British Columbia and Quebec. A nationwide study is justified to address this issue of variability in rural and remote health service delivery and its impact on interfacility transfers and patient outcomes.

A short cut review was carried to examine the evidence for the use of ultrasound in diagnosing pneumonia in paediatric patients. A literature search was performed that found one systematic review and meta-analysis based on eight papers and a further five relevant papers. The author, date and country of publication, patient group studied, study type, relevant outcomes, results and study weaknesses of these papers are tabulated. The clinical bottom line is that lung ultrasound appears to have an acceptable sensitivity and specificity for the diagnosis of pneumonia in children when performed by an experienced sonographer.

A short cut review was carried out to establish whether a standard frontal view CXR as good as standard frontal and lateral views at diagnosing pneumonia in children with a clinical suspicion of that diagnosis. Three papers presented the best evidence to answer the clinical question. The author, date and country of publication, patient group studied, study type, relevant outcomes, results and study weaknesses of these papers are tabulated. It is concluded that the addition of a lateral view does not appear to significantly improve the accuracy of pneumonia diagnosis in children by emergency physicians, when compared with frontal view alone.

Introduction: The diagnosis of Salter-Harris Type 1 fractures in the Emergency Department (ED) is primarily clinical, as radiographs are usually unrevealing. We hypothesize that bilateral asymmetry of the growth plate, detected using bedside ultrasound (US), could improve the accuracy of this diagnosis in the ED. This study seeks to determine growth plate size according to age, and to establish normal variation in bilateral symmetry of growth plate cartilage, for the ulna, radius, tibia, and fibula, using bedside US in normal healthy children. Methods: This prospective observational study was conducted in a convenience sample of children ages 0-17 during planned visits to an elementary school, high school, and an outpatient pediatric clinic. A sample size of 177 was determined with a linear regression model using previously published data on the subject. The study was approved by the hospital and universitys ethics board. After a medical questionnaire with a research nurse, the participants underwent ultrasound evaluation of bilateral ulnae, radii, fibulae, and tibiae, to obtain still images of the physes from two orthogonal views. The evaluations were performed by 3 medical residents, 1 medical student, and by the supervising emergency physician. All ultrasonographers were EDE1 certified and specifically trained for growth plate imagery. The still images were evaluated ulteriorly and measurements taken of the physeal cartilage. Ten percent of the patients had their images re-evaluated by the supervising physician to determine inter-rater reliability. Results: A total of 227 patients were recruited. The median age was 8 years old with an interquartile range of (3;14). Mean growth plate size by age was determined, confirming decreasing growth plate size with advancing age for all articulations. The percentage of absolute difference between right and left, for all growth plates together, was a mean of 17% with a 95% CI of 16-19%. The overall inter-rater reliability was excellent at 0.84. Conclusion: This study establishes a reproducible technique of measuring growth plates with ultrasound. We suspect that increased asymmetry at the growth plate, beyond this established normal variation, may signify a physis widening or hematoma consistent with a Salter-Harris Type 1 fracture; this will be evaluated in a second study.