How do emergency departments in England process the results of laboratory investigations?

被引:1
作者
Ahmad, Aman [1 ]
Alaakel, Tawfek [1 ]
Ali, Hassan [1 ]
Arora, Amit [1 ]
George, Grizelda [1 ]
Queenan, Maria [1 ]
Todd, Bryan S. [1 ]
Warren, Emma [1 ]
机构
[1] Oxford Radcliffe Hosp NHS Trust, Horton Hosp, Emergency Dept, Banbury OX16 9AL, Oxon, England
关键词
checking results; emergency department; laboratory investigations;
D O I
10.1097/MEJ.0b013e3283440e72
中图分类号
R4 [临床医学];
学科分类号
1002 ; 100602 ;
摘要
Aims To determine how emergency departments in England process laboratory investigation results, to identify risk, and to note examples of good practice. Methods A telephone survey was conducted, and data were entered anonymously into Excel spreadsheets. Fisher's exact test was used to test the independence of pairs of variables. Results Data were collected from 167 out of 193 (87%) emergency departments in England. The majority had nurse-requested blood tests. There was a statistical association between nurse-requesting and failure by the clinician seeing the patient to check results. Fourteen (8%) departments did not allow patients to leave until all their results were available. A senior doctor did a second 'safety' check of results in 83 (50%) departments. Many respondents were able to give examples of patients who had been recalled to hospital after a second check. Only a minority of departments had information systems that could identify high-risk patients. Conclusion A second 'safety' check by an experienced consultant, associate specialist or middle grade doctor identifies error. This is time-consuming, but could be supported and simplified by using intelligently designed information systems. European Journal of Emergency Medicine 18:231-233 (C) 2011 Wolters Kluwer Health vertical bar Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
引用
收藏
页码:231 / 233
页数:3
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