BMC emergency medicine
-
BMC emergency medicine · Dec 2019
What are emergency ambulance services doing to meet the needs of people who call frequently? A national survey of current practice in the United Kingdom.
Emergency ambulance services are integral to providing a service for those with unplanned urgent and life-threatening health conditions. However, high use of the service by a small minority of patients is a concern. Our objectives were to describe: service-wide and local policies or pathways for people classified as Frequent Caller; call volume; and results of any audit or evaluation. ⋯ Ambulance services are under pressure to meet challenging response times for high acuity patients. Tensions are apparent in the provision of care to patients who have complex needs and call frequently. Multi-disciplinary case management approaches may help to provide appropriate care, and reduce demand on emergency services. However, there is currently inadequate evidence to inform commissioning, policy or practice development.
-
BMC emergency medicine · Dec 2019
Multicenter StudyStakeholder opinion on the proposal to introduce 'treat and referral' into the Irish emergency medical service.
The Irish ambulance services have traditionally transported all patients following an emergency (112/999) call, regardless of acuity, to an emergency department (ED). A proposal to introduce Treat and Referral, an established care pathway in some jurisdictions, is under active consideration in Ireland. This will present a significant change. Stakeholder engagement is recognised as an essential component of management of such change. This study has conducted a multicentre, cross-sectional survey exploring opinions on the introduction of Treat and Referral among key Irish stakeholders; consultants in emergency medicine, paramedics and advanced paramedics. ⋯ This study identified that the Irish healthcare practitioners surveyed are supportive of the introduction of Treat and Referral into Ireland. It also affords healthcare policymakers the opportunity to address the concerns raised, in particular the clinical level which will be targeted for inclusion in this extended scope of practice.
-
BMC emergency medicine · Dec 2019
Diagnostic error in the emergency department: learning from national patient safety incident report analysis.
Diagnostic error occurs more frequently in the emergency department than in regular in-patient hospital care. We sought to characterise the nature of reported diagnostic error in hospital emergency departments in England and Wales from 2013 to 2015 and to identify the priority areas for intervention to reduce their occurrence. ⋯ Systems modifications are needed that provide clinicians with better support in performing patient assessment and investigation interpretation. Interventions to reduce diagnostic error need to be evaluated in the emergency department setting, and could include standardised checklists, structured reporting and technological investigation improvements.
-
BMC emergency medicine · Dec 2019
Observational StudyThe prognostic value of red blood cell distribution width in patients with suspected infection in the emergency department.
Sepsis is a potential life threatening dysregulated immune response to an infection, which can result in multi-organ failure and death. Unfortunately, good prognostic markers are lacking in patients with suspected infection to identify those at risk. Red blood cell distribution width (RDW) is a common and inexpensive hematologic laboratory measurement associated with adverse prognosis in multiple diseases. The aim of this study was to determine the prognostic value of RDW for mortality and early clinical deterioration in patients with a suspected infection in the emergency department. ⋯ RDW was found to be a significant independent prognostic factor of 30-day mortality and early clinical deterioration in patients with suspected infection.. Therefore it can be a used as an extra marker besides bedside sepsis scores in identifying patients at risk for worse outcome in patients with suspected infection.