Audit of patients with chest pain presenting to an accident and emergency department over a 6-month period.

Audit of patients with chest pain presenting to an accident and emergency department over a 6-month period.

The results of a 6-month retrospective audit of patients presenting with chest pain to an accident and emergency (A&E) department to which 46,000 new patients per year present are discussed. The computer diagnostic code assigned to the patients by the A&E doctor, referral rates for second opinion and disposal after assessment in the A&E department are examined, with particular reference to pati...

Investigation and management of patients with pleuritic chest pain presenting to the accident and emergency department.

The assessment of a patient with pleuritic chest pain calls for a high degree of clinical acumen and a high degree of suspicion that the diagnosis might be pulmonary embolism. This area is one of the most difficult in A&E medicine (and indeed chest medicine). One error is to "think the best" when considering the diagnosis in such patients but experience soon teaches to "think PE" and diagnose l...

An audit of first seizures presenting to an Accident and Emergency Department

OBJECTIVES To investigate whether patients presenting after a first seizure to an Accident and Emergency (A&E) department were being managed according to consensus recommendations. DESIGN Retrospective audit. SETTING UK District General Hospital over 6 months. METHODOLOGY Hand search of Accident and Emergency notes for diagnoses of "seizure", "fit", "epilepsy" and "epileptic fit", followe...

Chest pain in the accident and emergency department.

Four per cent of patients attend the Accident and Emergency Department (A&E) present with chest pain. In this prospective study of 297 patients the value of chest radiography is assessed. Overall, 23% of chest X-rays (CXRs) had an abnormality which influenced management of the patient, rising to 40% in those patients admitted to Coronary Care. Twenty-nine per cent of CXRs were misinterpreted by...

Epidemiology of burns presenting to an accident and emergency department.