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Tidskrift

Sammanfattning

A study has been undertaken of a nurse-led emergency clinic, involving 2.225 patients, and taking place over a 4-month period. Of these patients, 88.7% could be treated fully by the nurse practitioners in the clinic. The study was based on a review of patient notes completed on the emergency clinic during the study period. The review examines the following: Total number of patients. Number of patients referred to the central Accident and Emergency Department. Types of accident. Diagnoses. Location of injury. Treatment. Total number of X-rays, including the number of positive X-ray findings. Number of emergency clinic notes containing addenda and comments from the reviewing doctor. The study also includes comparison with previous studies undertaken when the clinic functioned as a general emergency clinic The study shows that the nurse practitioners request no more X-rays than previously, when X-rays were ordered by junior doctors. The difference in how many of the X-rays result in positive (= pathological) findings is significant. The percentage total of positive X-rays is 50.9%. In 1.3% of all patient records an addendum has been registered, which means that only in those cases the diagnosis of the doctor diverged from that of the nurse practitioner. The conclusion is that an unexpectedly high number of patients with minor injuries receive adequate treatment in a nurse-led emergency clinic, which is highly significant in a time of restructuring of emergency preparedness in Denmark.

MeSH