Does Mechanism of Injury Predict Trauma Center Need for Children?

Abstract

Objective

To determine if the Mechanism of Injury Criteria of the Field Triage Decision Scheme (FTDS) are accurate for identifying children who need the resources of a trauma center.     

Remote Scene Size-up Using an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle in a Simulated Mass Casualty Incident

Introduction: The scene-size-up is a crucial first step in the response to a mass casualty incident (MCI). Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) may potentially enhance the scene-size-up with real-time visual feedback during chaotic, evolving or inaccessible events. We performed this study to test the feasibility of paramedics using UAV video from a simulated MCI to identify scene hazards, initiate patient triage, and designate key operational locations.

Methods: We simulated an MCI, including 15 patients plus 4 hazards, on a college campus. A UAV surveyed the scene, capturing video of all patients, hazards, surrounding buildings and streets. We invited attendees of a provincial paramedic meeting to participate. Participants received a lecture on Sort-Assess-Lifesaving Interventions-Treatment/Transport (SALT) Triage and MCI scene management principles. Next, they watched the UAV video footage. We directed participants to sort patients according to SALT Triage Step One, identify injuries, and to localize the patients within the campus. Additionally, we asked them to select a start point for SALT Triage Step Two, identify and locate hazards, and designate locations for an Incident Command Post, Treatment Area, Transport Area and Access/Egress routes. The primary outcome was the number of correctly allocated triage scores.

Results: Ninety-six individuals participated. Mean age was 35 years (SD 11); 46% (44) were female and 49% (47) were Primary Care Paramedics. Most participants (79; 82%) correctly sorted at least 12 of 15 patients. Increased age was associated with decreased triage accuracy [?0.04(?0.07, ?0.01); p?=?0.031]. Fifty-two (54%) correctly localized 12 or more patients to a 27?×?20m grid area. Advanced paramedic certification, and local residency were associated with improved patient localization [2.47(0.23,4.72); p?=?0.031], [3.36(1.10,5.61); p?=?0.004]. The majority of participants (70; 81%) chose an acceptable location to start SALT Triage Step Two and 75 (78%) identified at least 3 of 4 hazards. Approximately half (53; 56%) of participants appropriately designated 4 or more of 5 key operational areas.

Conclusion: This study demonstrates the ability of UAV technology to remotely facilitate the scene size-up in an MCI. Additional research is required to further investigate optimal strategies to deploy UAVs in this context.     

Triage success in disasters: dynamic victim-tracking cards

A dynamic victim-tracking card developed for use in community or hospital disaster exercises was tested during two hospital and two airport disaster drills. Use of the card in 375 "patients" allowed testing of the ability to evaluate the decisions of triage, the early medical intervention for "victims," and the ongoing treatment of patients with a changing medical status. The card was successful in simulating realistic changes that may occur in critically ill and injured patients. Of the 126 "patients" evaluated in an actual exercise, 55 (43.6%) were placed in the proper triage category. Four patients "died" as a result of poor initial evaluation and treatment. Medical decisions during hospital and community disaster exercises can be more realistically tested and more accurately documented with the use of the dynamic victim-tracking card.     

How people present symptoms to health services: a theory-based content analysis

Background

How people present symptoms to health services may influence the care they subsequently receive. Leventhal''s Commonsense Model of Self-Regulation (CS-SRM) posits that individuals develop cognitive illness representations elaborated around five main components (identity, timeline, cause, consequences, and cure/control), coherence, and emotional representations.

Aim

To examine whether initial presentations to health services consist of the components of illness representation proposed by the CS-SRM.

Design and setting

A CS-SRM-based content analysis of calls to the Scottish national telephone advice service, NHS 24.

Method

A random sample of callers to NHS 24 was identified. A quota sample of 60 consented to participate. Their consultations were transcribed verbatim. Responses to an initial open question regarding the reason for calling were identified and divided into ‘meaning units’. A coding schedule was developed using Leventhal''s definitions of illness representations. Meaning units were coded independently by two researchers.

Results

Fifty-nine eligible initial presentations contained between 1 and 13 coding units, (mean = 4). A total of 230 coding units were available for coding. Overall, 202 (88%) coding units were coded to at least one component of illness representation. All 59 (100%) participants made reference to identity, 26 (44%) to timeline, nine (15%) to cause, eight (14%) to consequences, 22 (37%) to cure/control, and 11 (19%) to the degree of coherence. Emotional representations were identified in six (10%) participants'' presentations.

Conclusion

Leventhal''s CS-SRM accounts for a large proportion of initial presentations to health services. Most people offer identity plus at least one additional component of illness representation. It may be necessary for clinicians to prompt remaining components to obtain a comprehensive understanding of patients'' representations of illness.     

分诊叫号系统在我院的应用

目的减少患者就诊等侯时间,改善服务环境,提高工作效率。方法开发设计分诊叫号系统。简要介绍医院分诊叫号系统的工作流程,分析系统的主要功能和实现方法,并阐述实施过程中的注意事顷。结果优化服务流程和工作环境,提高了服务效率和质量,树立医院的良好形象。结论通过该系统有序地管理,使得医院的医疗秩序更加规范化。     

The influence of patient acuity on satisfaction with emergency care: perspectives of family, friends and carers

Aims and objectives. To investigate the factors that influence satisfaction with emergency care among individuals accompanying patients to the emergency department and explore agreement between the triage nurse and accompanying person regarding urgency. Background. Many patients seeking treatment in hospital are escorted by an accompanying person, who may be a friend, family member or carer. Several factors influence patient satisfaction with emergency care, including waiting time and time to treatment. It is also influenced by provision of information and interpersonal relations between staff and patients. Research on satisfaction has focused on the patient perspective; however, individuals who accompany patients are potential consumers. Knowledge about the ways accompanying persons perceive the patient's medical condition and level of urgency will identify areas for improved patient outcomes. Design and methods. A prospective cross‐sectional survey with a consecutive sample (n = 128 response rate 83·7%) was undertaken. Data were collected in an Australian metropolitan teaching hospital with about 32,000 visits to the emergency department each year. The Consumer Emergency Satisfaction Scale was used to measure satisfaction with nursing care. Results. Significant differences in perceptions of patient urgency between accompanying persons and nurses were found. Those people accompanying patients of a higher urgency were significantly more satisfied than those accompanying patients of a lower urgency. These results were independent of real waiting time or the accompanying person's knowledge of the patients’ triage status. In addition, older accompanying persons were more satisfied with emergency care than younger accompanying persons. Discussion. Little attention has been paid to the social interactions that occur between nurses and patients at triage and the ways in which these interactions might impact satisfaction with emergency care. Relevance to clinical practice. Good interpersonal relationships can positively influence satisfaction with the emergency visit. This relationship can contribute to improved patient care and health outcomes.     

Passing the audition - the appraisal of client credibility and assessment by nurses at triage

Aim. This paper presents the findings of one aspect of a larger study aiming to build a substantive grounded theory of the process of initial assessment at triage. Background. Prioritisation at triage within emergency departments centres primarily on assessing the threat to physiological function of people presenting with health‐care problems. This approach presumes that clinical reasoning strategies reside exclusively within the health‐care practitioner, with the patient playing no active part in the process. Design. A grounded theory/symbolic interactionist methodology. Methods. Thirty‐eight recordings were made of live triage encounters involving 14 emergency nurses from two demographically distinct emergency departments. At the end of the relevant shift, those encounters in which the nurses were involved were replayed to them. The recording was stopped after each question or comment by the nurse who was then asked to say what they were thinking at the time. The nurses’ thoughts were recorded, transcribed and analysed using the constant comparative method, in which hypotheses are generated and continually modified in the light of incoming data until a conceptual story line, or theory, is produced. Results. The findings suggest that the outward clinical signs of problems presenting to the emergency department were not viewed by nurses as neutral manifestations of the pathology itself but as a conscious or unconscious portrayal of patients’ physical discomfort and their perception of the nature of the problem. The way in which patients and carers depict their problems is used by triage nurses to determine the credibility of the clinical information they provide. Conclusion. Triage can be regarded as a process in which nurses act as an adjudicating panel, judging the clinical data before them through the appraisal of the way patients act out their problems and narrate their stories. Relevance to clinical practice. Nursing practice and research need to account for the patient's contribution to the decision‐making process at triage.     

Thinking strategies used by Registered Nurses during emergency department triage

AIM: This paper is a report of a study to describe and compare thinking strategies and cognitive processing in the emergency department triage process by Registered Nurses with high and low triage accuracy. BACKGROUND: Sound clinical reasoning and accurate decision-making are integral parts of modern nursing practice and are of vital importance during triage in emergency departments. Although studies have shown that individual and contextual factors influence the decisions of Registered Nurses in the triage process, others have failed to explain the relationship between triage accuracy and clinical experience. Furthermore, no study has shown the relationship between Registered Nurses' thinking strategies and their triage accuracy. METHOD: Using the 'think aloud' method, data were collected in 2004-2005 from 16 RNs working in Swedish emergency departments who had previously participated in a study examining triage accuracy. Content analysis of the data was performed. FINDINGS: The Registered Nurses used a variety of thinking strategies, ranging from searching for information, generating hypotheses to stating propositions. They structured the triage process in several ways, beginning by gathering data, generating hypotheses or allocating acuity ratings. Comparison of participants' use of thinking strategies and the structure of the triage process based on their previous triage accuracy revealed only slight differences. CONCLUSION: The wide range of thinking strategies used by Registered Nurses when performing triage indicates that triage decision-making is complex. Further research is needed to ascertain which skills are most important in triage decision-making.