Articles: emergency-services.
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Abdominal pain (AP) is a common presenting complaint in emergency department (ED) patients. A 1972 study reported that unsupervised surgical residents in a university hospital ED were unable to make a specific diagnosis in 41% of 1,000 AP patients. In the intervening time, ED availability of diagnostic technology has increased, and the reference hospital acquired full-time emergency medicine (EM) faculty. ⋯ One 1993 patient with acute cholecystitis was initially misdiagnosed as having UDAP. Advances in technology and EM faculty presence were temporally associated with improved diagnostic accuracy in patients with AP in a university hospital ED. As compared with 20 years ago, fewer patients required hospitalization, more were assigned a specific diagnosis, and there were fewer cases of missed surgical disease.
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We describe Alberta's publicly funded system of rural hospital emergency outpatient services just before the profound impact of major health care reforms. From a rural physician's perspective, we descriptively analyze a unique government database that contains the number of emergency outpatient visits to all Alberta hospitals in the fiscal year 1992/93. ⋯ There were significant differences in the emergency outpatient use of large urban, regional urban, and rural hospitals, and between rural hospitals that were close, middle, or remote distances from tertiary or secondary care centers. We identify some clinically important factors that are not described by available data, but which should be considered by the reform movement.
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To describe the development of an injury-surveillance system based on the emergency department log. ⋯ With minimal training and cost, the ED log can be adapted for collection of injury data on all patients seen in the ED.
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The twin goals of health care reform--providing universal coverage and limiting health care costs--will require increased primary care access and reductions in the overuse of inappropriate subspecialty interventions. The emergency department provides acute care access for all patients and nonemergency care for those patients unable to find other sources of care. ⋯ These two effects may endanger the viability of the ED as the safety net of the health care system. The impact of health care reform on the emergency care system of the nation requires careful analysis to protect the important role of the ED in providing acute care and in guaranteeing access to care.