Use of non-invasive positive pressure ventilation in emergency departments of hospitals in Spain.

A survey was undertaken of the use of non-invasive ventilation (NIV) in Spain. 45.7% of emergency departments use NIV. The average time it has been in use is 4 years. Public hospitals use NIV more frequently (89.5%) as well as teaching hospitals (78.1%). Emergency physicians are the professionals who most frequently use NIV (68.8%). High flux continuous positive airway pressure (58.4%) and facial masks (63.5%) are most commonly used. Only 18.9% of hospitals have quality registration in NIV and 35.6% have protocols for using NIV. The method is underused by technicians working in hospital emergency services and there is a lack of uniform protocols with other departments involved.

Epidemiology of appendectomy and appendicitis in the Valencian community (Spain), 1998-2007.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Our purpose was to study the incidence of appendectomy and appendicitis in the Valencian community (Spain) during a period of 10 years (1998-2007). METHODS: Data on discharge diagnoses of appendectomy and appendicitis were downloaded from all public hospitals in the Valencian community. RESULTS: We identified 44,683 cases of appendectomies and 42,742 cases of appendicitis (95.7%) during the study period. The age-standardized incidence rates among men ranked between 132.1 cases per 100,000 population in 2003 and 117.46 cases per 100,000 population in 2000 without a clear trend through the study period. The appendiceal perforation rate was 12.1% and the negative appendectomy rate 4.3%. The global mortality was 0.38%. CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of appendectomy in our community presents a slight descending trend. This decline is more intense in females. The appendix perforation rate is lower than in other studies. The death rate is similar to other studies; however, it is very low in patients of younger age.