Emergency medicine journal : EMJ
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Multicenter Study
Pain assessments at triage with the Manchester triage system: a prospective observational study.
Pain is one of the six general discriminators of the Manchester triage system (MTS). The frequency of pain assessments conducted at triage with the MTS, and patient, nurse and triage characteristics associated with pain assessments were studied. Also, nurses' reasons for not assessing pain at triage were studied. ⋯ Pain assessments at triage are conducted infrequently because of insufficient education, conducting activities at triage that are not necessary for estimating urgency and a lack of clarity in the MTS guidelines. Changes in these areas are necessary to improve the reliability and validity of pain assessments and the MTS.
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Multicenter Study
Characteristics of general practices associated with emergency admission rates to hospital: a cross-sectional study.
To identify characteristics of general practices associated with emergency hospital admission rates, and determine whether levels of performance and patient reports of access are associated with admission rates. ⋯ The patient characteristics of deprivation, age, ethnicity and gender are important predictors of admission rates. Larger practices and greater distance from a hospital have lower admission rates. Being able to consult a particular GP, an aspect of continuity, is associated with lower emergency admission rates.