Articles: emergency-services.
-
This study was carried out to investigate the effect of triage on attenders' waiting times in an accident and emergency (A & E) department. The A & E department comprised three separate areas: the A & E unit, dressing clinic and review clinic. Data on all A & E attenders were collected by the nursing staff over a period of 1 week using a data collection form. ⋯ This latter finding is a cause for concern, since the receptionist is the main triage assessor at night. However, the time the attender spent waiting to be clinically assessed by a health care professional (nurse) was shorter in 1988 than when performed by a health care professional (doctor) in 1986. This indicated that nurse triage enabled a shorter waiting time between arrival and assessment of the A & E unit attender.
-
A 14 month retrospective study was undertaken to determine the cost implications of the opening of a roller skating rink to the local hospital accident and emergency department (A and E). A total of 398 patients attended following injury at the roller skating rink, of whom 384 were included in the study. The estimated cost of their injuries was determined by the hospital accounts department. ⋯ The total cost to the A and E department of all injuries sustained at the rink over this period was 38,412 pounds. The cost implications of opening a roller skating rink for the A and E department are considerable. If proposals for self-budgeting are applied, A and E departments will have to seek additional funding if such leisure facilities are opened in their vicinity.
-
Hosp Community Psychiatry · Dec 1990
Characteristics of psychiatric emergency room patients with alcohol- or drug-induced disorders.
Although emergency room psychiatrists are often faced with evaluating and planning treatment for patients who abuse substances, there is limited information about the characteristics of emergency room patients with alcohol- or drug-induced disorders. The authors describe the demographic and clinical characteristics of 343 consecutive patients referred to a general hospital's emergency psychiatry service. ⋯ They also demonstrated increased suicidality. Alcohol was the predominant substance that contributed to psychiatric emergencies, but a surprising number of patients were diagnosed as having amphetamine-induced disorders, possibly representing an important trend.
-
This article is a continuation of a series that provides guidelines for documentation in the medical record. See QRC Advisor 6:3 (January) for general charting guidelines, 6:4 (February) for obstetrics charting, 6:6 (April) for perioperative charting, and 6:12 (December) for Documentation of Medications and i.v.'s--I.
-
As a result of the lorry explosion on the Fengate Industrial Estate, Peterborough on 22nd March 1989, 82 casualties arrived at Peterborough District Hospital. Despite the fact that casualties arrived at the A&E Department in large numbers before the Major Accident Plan could be implemented, all of the casualties had been assessed and either admitted or sent home within 3 h of the explosion. In the process several valuable lessons were learned, and their implications are discussed in this paper.