Evaluation of Emergency Consultation Skill: A Preliminary Study

PURPOSE: Emergency consultation is a common and important aspect in the emergency department (ED). Kessler et al. suggested the five Cs of the emergency medicine (EM) consulting checklist; contact, communication, core question, collaboration, and closing the loop as a tool for evaluation of consultation quality. The objective of this study was to evaluate the appropriateness of this checklist as a tool for assessment of the skill of requesting consultation in the ED. METHODS: This study was conducted in the ED at an urban training hospital. Three emergency physicians recorded telephone conversations when they contacted consultant physicians for consultation regarding emergency patients. After recording files were collected, eight raters evaluated each conversation using the five Cs of the EM consulting checklist. RESULTS: A total of 58 cases were gathered. The most frequent emergency acuity level of patients was 3, by 72.4%. The mean duration of conversation was 53+/-30 seconds. The mean total score was 41.9+/-3.1. When the scores for the five Cs' categories were evaluated, the score was lowest, at 2.9+/-1.0 for 'contact' and highest, at 4.8+/-0.5, for 'communication'. Inter-rater agreement (95%confidence interval) of the total score was 0.819 (0.755-0.875). In the case of acuity level 3, the agreement was high, at 0.859(0.796-0.911), whereas it was 0.691 (0.491-0.874) and 0.426(0.115-0.922) in acuity levels 2 and 4, respectively. CONCLUSION: EM consultations were evaluated according to the five Cs of the EM consulting checklist showing high inter-rater agreement. This checklist could be used as a tool for monitoring and feedback in EM residency training.

Relationship of Clinical Manifestation of Renal Colic to Ureteral Stone Size and Location

PURPOSE: This study was designed to correlate the size and position of ureteral stones to their clinical manifestation. METHODS: This study was a retrospective review of medical records of 201 patients who visited the emergency department complaining of renal colic and diagnosed with ureteral stone(s) by use of computed tomography from July to December 2011. The size and position of a stone and the corresponding ipsilateral hydronephrosis, as well as the number and type of administered analgesics, were evaluated. RESULTS: Ureteral stones were located at the ureteropelvic junction in 2.0% of cases, at the proximal ureter between the ureteropelvic junction and the iliac vessels in 41.8% of cases, at the ureter crossing external iliac vessels in 1.0% of cases, at the distal ureter between the iliac vessels and the ureterovesical junction in 12.9% of cases, and at the ureterovesical junction in 42.3% of cases. Where the ureter crossed external iliac vessels, the mean size of stones was significantly larger in the upper ureter, as 5.3+/-2.3 mm, than in the lower ureter, as 4.2+/-1.8 mm. Pain duration and stone size were significant factors associated with hydronephrosis by logistic regression analysis. Ketorolac was selected as the first-line analgesics in 169 patients (94.9%). The factor affecting the response to analgesic treatment was stone size. Patients needing analgesic administration three times or more, had smaller stones. CONCLUSION: Most of the ureteral stones observed were located in the proximal ureter and at the ureterovesical junction. Hydronephrosis occurred more often in patients who had longer periods of pain and larger stones. Patients with smaller stones needed more frequent administration of pain killers.

Extended Blood Drug Concentrations in Extended Release Formulated Acetaminophen Overdose Patients

PURPOSE: The Rumack-Matthew nomogram cannot be applied in managing overdose by extended release (ER) preparation acetaminophen (AAP). This study analyzed the clinical characteristics of ER preparation AAP overdose in order to develop a treatment recommendation. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of patients presented to the emergency department as a result of AAP overdose from Jan 2008 to Dec 2010. Only those patients who ingested an ER preparation of AAP were included in the study. Their blood AAP concentrations were measured at 4 and 8 hours after ingestion. Clinical variables related to AAP intoxication were analyzed. RESULTS: Of the total 108 AAP overdose patients identified during the 3-year period, 20 suffered specifically with ER preparation AAP overdose. The mean estimated ingestion amount was 167.5 mg/kg. Treatments including gastric lavage, activated charcoal, and N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) were performed on 10, 14, and 11 patients, respectively. Hepatotoxicity was diagnosed in only one patient who was then successfully treated with NAC. In another case, blood AAP concentration continued to increase until at least 11-hours after ingestion. CONCLUSION: This study suggested that blood AAP concentrations associated with ingestion of ER formulations of AAP, may increase in an extended manner. Therefore, multiple sampling and longer periods between samples assessing AAP blood concentration may be required for incidences of extended release overdose.