1. [Emergency department X-rays requested by physicians or nurses].
- Author
-
Pedersen GB and Storm JO
- Subjects
- Adult, Aged, Clinical Competence, Female, Follow-Up Studies, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Nurse Practitioners standards, Nursing Staff, Hospital standards, Patient Satisfaction, Physicians standards, Quality Assurance, Health Care, Radiography, Time Factors, Workforce, Wounds and Injuries therapy, Emergency Service, Hospital standards, Medical Staff, Hospital standards, Triage standards, Wounds and Injuries diagnostic imaging
- Abstract
Introduction: Triage nurse requested x-rays reduce waiting-time in the emergency department. Does triage nurse requested x-rays in the emergency department save time for patients with a defined group of low-energy injuries without compromising treatment quality or patient satisfaction?, Material and Methods: Analysis of data from a randomized study including a defined group of low-energy injuries in patients at the emergency department requiring x-ray investigation., Results: A total of 58 patients were included in the intervention group and 48 in the control group. For 50% of the patients, waiting-time from admittance to x-ray request was reduced from 17 to 9 minutes when x-rays were requested by a nurse vs. a physician, and for 75% waiting-time was reduced from 35 to 14 minutes. Time reduction was also found in time from admittance to the patient returned from x-ray examination. Waiting-time was reduced from 56 to 32 minutes, and for 75% of the patients the waiting-time was reduced from 90 to 66 minutes when x-ray was requested by a nurse vs. a physician. Positive X-ray findings were more frequent when the examination was requested by a nurse than by a physician (risk difference: 27.13). The study showed that unnecessary x-ray examinations were equally distributed between the nurses and the physicians. All patients were satisfied with the intervention., Conclusion: Waiting-time was reduced for a well-defined type of low-energy injury requiring x-ray examination at the emergency department when referred to x-ray by a triage nurse. The intervention did not compromise the quality of the treatment or the patients' satisfaction with the intervention.
- Published
- 2009