Noncardiac Surgery in Patients with Left Ventricular Assist Devices: A 11-Year Institutional Experience

INTRODUCTION

Limited options in the end-stage treatment of heart failure have led to increased use of left ventricular assist devices. For this reason, the rate of non-cardiac surgeries in patients with left ventricular assist devices is also increasing. Our study aims to analyze surgical rate, anesthesia management, and results by reviewing our 11-year experience with patients who underwent non-cardiac surgery receiving left ventricular assist devices support.

METHODS

We retrospectively evaluated 57 patients who underwent non-cardiac surgery and 67 non-cardiac surgical procedures among 274 patients who applied between January 2011 and December 2022 and underwent left ventricular assist devices implantation with end-stage heart failure.

RESULTS

Fifty (74.6%) patients with left ventricular assist devices admitted to the hospital for non-cardiac surgery were emergency interventions. The most common reasons for admission were general surgery (52.2%), driveline wound revision (22.3%), and neurological surgery (14.9%). This patient group has the highest in-hospital mortality rate (12.8%) and the highest rate of neurological surgery (8.7%). While 70% of the patients who underwent neurosurgery were taken to surgery urgently, the International Normalized Ratio values of these patients were between 3.5 and 4.5 at the time of admission to the emergency department.

CONCLUSION

With a perioperative multidisciplinary approach, higher morbidity and mortality risks can be reduced during emergencies and major surgical procedures.

Developing a clinical decision support system software prototype that assists in the management of patients with self-harm in the emergency department: protocol of the PERMANENS project

BACKGROUND

Self-harm presents a significant public health challenge. Emergency departments (EDs) are crucial healthcare settings in managing self-harm, but clinician uncertainty in risk assessment may contribute to ineffective care. Clinical Decision Support Systems (CDSSs) show promise in enhancing care processes, but their effective implementation in self-harm management remains unexplored.

METHODS

PERMANENS comprises a combination of methodologies and study designs aimed at developing a CDSS prototype that assists clinicians in the personalized assessment and management of ED patients presenting with self-harm. Ensemble prediction models will be constructed by applying machine learning techniques on electronic registry data from four sites, i.e., Catalonia (Spain), Ireland, Norway, and Sweden. These models will predict key adverse outcomes including self-harm repetition, suicide, premature death, and lack of post-discharge care. Available registry data include routinely collected electronic health record data, mortality data, and administrative data, and will be harmonized using the OMOP Common Data Model, ensuring consistency in terminologies, vocabularies and coding schemes. A clinical knowledge base of effective suicide prevention interventions will be developed rooted in a systematic review of clinical practice guidelines, including quality assessment of guidelines using the AGREE II tool. The CDSS software prototype will include a backend that integrates the prediction models and the clinical knowledge base to enable accurate patient risk stratification and subsequent intervention allocation. The CDSS frontend will enable personalized risk assessment and will provide tailored treatment plans, following a tiered evidence-based approach. Implementation research will ensure the CDSS' practical functionality and feasibility, and will include periodic meetings with user-advisory groups, mixed-methods research to identify currently unmet needs in self-harm risk assessment, and small-scale usability testing of the CDSS prototype software.

DISCUSSION

Through the development of the proposed CDSS software prototype, PERMANENS aims to standardize care, enhance clinician confidence, improve patient satisfaction, and increase treatment compliance. The routine integration of CDSS for self-harm risk assessment within healthcare systems holds significant potential in effectively reducing suicide mortality rates by facilitating personalized and timely delivery of effective interventions on a large scale for individuals at risk of suicide.

Impact of an Emergency Department Isolation Policy for Patients With Suspected COVID-19 on Door-to-Electrocardiography Time and Clinical Outcomes in Patients With Acute Myocardial Infarction

BACKGROUND

Rapid electrocardiography diagnosis within 10 minutes of presentation is critical for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients in the emergency department (ED). However, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has significantly impacted the emergency care system. Screening for COVID-19 symptoms and implementing isolation policies in EDs may delay the door-to-electrocardiography (DTE) time.

METHODS

We conducted a cross-sectional study of 1,458 AMI patients who presented to a single ED in South Korea from January 2019 to December 2021. We used multivariate logistic regression analysis to assess the impact of COVID-19 pandemic and ED isolation policies on DTE time and clinical outcomes.

RESULTS

We found that the mean DTE time increased significantly from 5.5 to 11.9 minutes (P < 0.01) in ST segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients and 22.3 to 26.7 minutes (P < 0.01) in non-ST segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) patients. Isolated patients had a longer mean DTE time compared to non-isolated patients in both STEMI (9.2 vs. 24.4 minutes) and NSTEMI (22.4 vs. 61.7 minutes) groups (P < 0.01). The adjusted odds ratio (aOR) for the effect of COVID-19 duration on DTE ≥ 10 minutes was 1.93 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.51-2.47), and the aOR for isolation status was 5.62 (95% CI, 3.54-8.93) in all patients. We did not find a significant association between in-hospital mortality and the duration of COVID-19 (aOR, 0.9; 95% CI, 0.52-1.56) or isolation status (aOR, 1.62; 95% CI, 0.71-3.68).

CONCLUSION

Our study showed that ED screening or isolation policies in response to the COVID-19 pandemic could lead to delays in DTE time. Timely evaluation and treatment of emergency patients during pandemics are essential to prevent potential delays that may impact their clinical outcomes.

Assessed and discharged - diagnosis, mortality and revisits in short-term emergency department contacts

Background

Emergency departments (EDs) experience an increasing number of patients. High patient flow are incentives for short duration of ED stay which may pose a challenge for patient diagnostics and care implying risk of ED revisits or increased mortality. Four hours are often used as a target time to decide whether to admit or discharge a patient.

Objective

To investigate and compare the diagnostic pattern, risk of revisits and short-term mortality for ED patients with a length of stay of less than 4 h (visits) with 4–24 h stay (short stay visits).

Methods

Population-based cohort study of patients contacting three EDs in the North Denmark Region during 2014–2016, excluding injured patients. Main diagnoses, number of revisits within 72 h of the initial contact and mortality were outcomes. Data on age, sex, mortality, time of admission and ICD-10 diagnostic chapter were obtained from the Danish Civil Registration System and the regional patient administrative system. Descriptive statistics were applied and Kaplan Meier mortality estimates with 95% CI were calculated.

Results

Seventy-nine thousand three hundred forty-one short-term ED contacts were included, visits constituted 60%. Non-specific diagnoses (i.e. symptoms and signs and other factors) were the most frequent diagnoses among both visits and short stay visits groups (67% vs 49%). Revisits were more frequent for visits compared to short stay visits (5.8% vs 4.2%). Circulatory diseases displayed the highest 0–48-h mortality within the visits and infections in the short stay visits (11.8% (95%CI: 10.4–13.5) and (3.5% (95%CI: 2.6–4.7)). 30-day mortality were 1.3% (95%CI: 1.2–1.5) for visits and 1.8% (95%CI: 1.7–2.0) for short stay visits. The 30-day mortality of the ED revisits with an initial visit was 1.0% (0.8–1.3), vs 0.7% (0.7–0.8) for no revisits, while 30-day mortality nearly doubled for ED revisits with an initial short stay visit (2.5% (1.9–3.2)).

Conclusions

Most patients were within the visit group. Non-specific diagnoses constituted the majority of diagnoses given. Mortality was higher among patients with short stay visits but increased for both groups with ED revisits. This suggest that diagnostics are challenged by short time targets.

Surge Capacity and Mass Casualty Incidents Preparedness of Emergency Departments in a Metropolitan City: a Regional Survey Study

BACKGROUND

Emergency departments (EDs) generally receive many casualties in disaster or mass casualty incidents (MCI). Some studies have conceptually suggested the surge capacity that ED should have; however, only few studies have investigated measurable numbers in one community. This study investigated the surge capacity of the specific number of accommodatable patients and overall preparedness at EDs in a metropolitan city.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study officially surveyed surge capacity and disaster preparedness for all regional and local emergency medical centers (EMC) in Seoul with the Seoul Metropolitan Government's public health division. This study developed survey items on space, staff, stuff, and systems, which are essential elements of surge capacity. The number of patients acceptable for each ED was investigated by triage level in ordinary and crisis situations. Multivariate linear regression analysis was performed on hospital resource variables related to surge capacity.

RESULTS

In the second half of 2018, a survey was conducted targeting 31 EMC directors in Seoul. It was found that all regional and local EMCs in Seoul can accommodate 848 emergency patients and 537 non-emergency patients in crisis conditions. In ordinary situations, one EMC could accommodate an average of 1.3 patients with Korean Triage and Acuity Scale (KTAS) level 1, 3.1 patients with KTAS level 2, and 5.7 patients with KTAS level 3. In situations of crisis, this number increased to 3.4, 7.8, and 16.2, respectively. There are significant differences in surge capacity between ordinary and crisis conditions. The difference in surge capacity between regional and local EMC was not significant. In both ordinary and crisis conditions, only the total number of hospital beds were significantly associated with surge capacity.

CONCLUSION

If the hospital's emergency transport system is ideally accomplished, patients arising from average MCI can be accommodated in Seoul. However, in a huge disaster, it may be challenging to handle the current surge capacity. More detailed follow-up studies are needed to prepare a surge capacity protocol in the community.

The Golden Letter: Innovation Collaboration to Reduce Avoidable Hospital Admissions

PURPOSE

Emergency Department (ED) overutilization and avoidable hospital admissions have been identified as areas of improvement. Studies have shown that ensuring adequate primary care follow-up after discharge from ED is an area that can be targeted to help decrease hospitalizations.

METHODS

Between April 2017 and December 2018, any family medicine patient presented by the ED for admission who was determined to be a candidate for rapid primary care follow-up, was offered a "Golden Letter." This letter guaranteed that the patient would be evaluated within 48 hours of discharge at the patient's primary care clinic. We studied the impact on reducing hospital admissions, 30-day ED revisits, and 30-day hospitalizations. Our data analysis included gender, age, and insurance status.

RESULTS

A total of 191 ED encounters that may have been admitted to the hospital were instead given a golden letter after shared decision making. A total of 104 (54.5%) completed a follow-up appointment within 48 hours. The 30-day ED revisit rate was 34% (65 encounters) with 33 (31.7%) of these patients having completed a follow-up visit and 32 (36.8%) did not follow up. There were 35 (18.3%) hospital admissions within 30 days of the ED visit. Of the patients admitted, 12 (11.5%) completed a follow-up visit and 23 (26.4%) did not complete a follow-up visit.

CONCLUSION

This initiative effectively reduced the number of low-acuity admissions and 30-day hospitalizations. This concept can provide a significant reduction of health care resource utilization and cost by ensuring safe ED discharge and rapid outpatient follow-up for low-acuity patients.

Machine Learning and Initial Nursing Assessment-Based Triage System for Emergency Department

Objectives

The aim of this study was to develop machine learning (ML) and initial nursing assessment (INA)-based emergency department (ED) triage to predict adverse clinical outcome.

Methods

The retrospective study included ED visits between January 2016 and December 2017 that resulted in either intensive care unit admission or emergency room death. We trained four classifiers using logistic regression and a deep learning model on INA and low dimensional (LD) INA, logistic regression on the Korea Triage and acuity scale (KTAS) and Sequential Related Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA). We varied the outcome ratio for external validation. Finally, variables of importance were identified using the random forest model's information gain. The four most influential variables were used for LD modeling for efficiency.

Results

A total of 86,304 patient visits were included, with an overall outcome rate of 3.5%. The area under the curve (AUC) values for the KTAS model were 76.8 (74.9–78.6) with logistic regression and 74.0 (72.1–75.9) for the SOFA model, while the AUC values of the INA model were 87.2 (85.9–88.6) and 87.6 (86.3–88.9) with logistic regression and deep learning, suggesting that the ML and INA-based triage system result more accurately predicted the outcomes. The AUC values for the LD model were 81.2 (79.4–82.9) and 80.7 (78.9–82.5) for logistic regression and deep learning, respectively.

Conclusions

We developed an ML and INA-based triage system for EDs. The novel system was able to predict clinical outcomes more accurately than existing triage systems, KTAS and SOFA.

Machine Learning-Based Prediction of Korean Triage and Acuity Scale Level in Emergency Department Patients

Objectives

Triage is a process to accurately assess and classify symptoms to identify and provide rapid treatment to patients. The Korean Triage and Acuity Scale (KTAS) is used as a triage instrument in all emergency centers. The aim of this study was to train and compare machine learning models to predict KTAS levels.

Methods

This was a cross-sectional study using data from a single emergency department of a tertiary university hospital. Information collected during triage was used in the analysis. Logistic regression, random forest, and XGBoost were used to predict the KTAS level.

Results

The models with the highest area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) were the random forest and XGBoost models trained on the entire dataset (AUROC = 0.922, 95% confidence interval 0.917-0.925 and AUROC = 0.922, 95% confidence interval 0.918-0.925, respectively). The AUROC of the models trained on the clinical data was higher than that of models trained on text data only, but the models trained on all variables had the highest AUROC among similar machine learning models.

Conclusions

Machine learning can robustly predict the KTAS level at triage, which may have many possibilities for use, and the addition of text data improves the predictive performance compared to that achieved by using structured data alone.

Characterizing Frequent Flyers of an Emergency Department Using Cluster Analysis

Emergency department (ED) overcrowding has been a pain point in hospitals across the globe. "Frequent flyers," who visited the ED at a much higher rate than average, account for almost one third of ED visits even though they represent only a small proportion of all ED patients. In this study, we used data-mining methods to cluster ED frequent flyers at a large academic medical center in the US. The objective was to identify distinct types of frequent flyers, and the common characteristics associated with each type. The results show that the frequent flyers at the ED have three subgroups each exhibiting distinct characteristics: (1) the elderly with chronic health conditions, (2) middle-aged males with unhealthy behavior, and (3) adult females who are generally healthy. These findings may inform targeted interventional strategies for patients of each subgroup, who likely have distinct reasons for visiting the ED frequently, to reduce ED overcrowding.

[Evaluation of Validity of the Korean Triage and Acuity Scale]

PURPOSE

The aim of this study was to identify the predictive validity of the Korean Triage and Acuity Scale (KTAS).

METHODS

This methodological study used data from National Emergency Department Information System for 2016. The KTAS disposition and emergency treatment results for emergency patients aged 15 years and older were analyzed to evaluate its predictive validity through its sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value.

RESULTS

In case of death in the emergency department, or where the intensive care unit admission was considered an emergency, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of the KTAS were 0.916, 0.581, 0.097, and 0.993, respectively. In case of death in the emergency department, or where the intensive or non-intensive care unit admission was considered an emergency, the sensitivity, specificity, and positive predictive value, and negative predictive value were 0.700, 0.642, 0.391, and 0.867, respectively.

CONCLUSION

The results of this study showed that the KTAS had high sensitivity but low specificity. It is necessary to constantly review and revise the KTAS level classification because it still results in a few errors of under and over-triage. Nevertheless, this study is meaningful in that it was an evaluation of the KTAS for the total cases of adult patients who sought help at regional and local emergency medical centers in 2016.

Epidemiology of otorhinolaryngologic emergencies in a secondary hospital: analysis of 64,054 cases

PURPOSE

To determine the incidence and distribution of care in relation to urgent otorhinolaryngologic pathologies by the different medical specialist units.

METHODS

A descriptive, observational and retrospective study was conducted of patients seen by the Emergency Service at a secondary hospital over the course of 7 years (2011-2017).

RESULTS

A total of 546,701 patients were seen during the period in question, of which 64,054 presented with otorhinolaryngologic symptoms. The attendance rate was 450/1000 inhabitants/year. The most frequent diagnoses were upper respiratory tract infection, with 13,639 cases (21.3%), tonsillopharyngitis, with 10,150 cases (15.8%) and vertigo/dizziness with 8761 cases (13.7%). Patients seen by the Hospital Emergency Service physicians and those referred to the Otorhinolaryngology or Paediatric Units were analysed both together and separately. The Hospital Emergency Service dealt with 77.1% of the cases, and referred 15.4% to the Otorhinolaryngology Unit and 7.5% to the Paediatrics Unit. Within the subgroup of patients referred to the Otorhinolaryngology Unit, the most frequent diagnoses were problems related to inflammatory ear disease (25.6%), followed by cervicofacial trauma (15.4%) and bleeding with otorhinolaryngologic symptoms (12.5%). The percentage of hospital admissions for the entire sample was 3%, while for patients referred to the Otorhinolaryngology Unit this figure was 6.8%.

CONCLUSIONS

A large percentage of patients presenting at the Hospital Emergency Service do so with otorhinolaryngologic symptoms, and the vast majority are treated effectively by the physicians in that service and are referred to the specialist services on the basis of sound criteria.

A Retrospective Study Investigating: Factors associated with mode of arrival and emergency department management for patients with acute stroke

BACKGROUND

Presentation by ambulance to the emergency department is critical for stroke patients to receive time dependent treatments. However, little is known of the factors that influence presentation by ambulance.

METHODS

Retrospective analysis of all patients with an emergency department medical diagnosis of stroke who presented to one of three Victorian emergency departments over a three-year period (2011-2013). A multivariable model was used to investigate demographic characteristics (including triage assessment category, triage identified as stroke, time to CT, and time to diagnosis within the emergency department) as predictors of arrival by ambulance.

RESULTS

3548 stroke patients were identified; mean age was 70 years, 53% were males, and 92% had an ischemic stroke. Arrival by ambulance occurred in 71% (n=2509) with arrival by private transport accounting for 29% (n=1039) of patients. Factors significantly associated with arrival by ambulance were older age (p=<0.001), being born in Australia (p=<0.001), and speaking English in the home (p=0.003). Arrival by ambulance was independently associated with rapid stroke care in the emergency department, arrival within 2h from symptom onset, attending an advanced stroke service (access to thrombolysis), triaged for stroke, medical assessment within 25min and referral for CT within 45min.

CONCLUSION

In this Australian multicenter study, it was identified that patients who arrived by ambulance received faster acute stroke care within the emergency department. Public health education which targets patients who are younger and from a non-English speaking background is needed as these demographics were not associated with timely arrival by ambulance to the emergency department.

Decreasing Low Acuity Pediatric Emergency Room Visits with Increased Clinic Access and Improved Parent Education

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE

The goal of this study was to decrease avoidable, low-acuity emergency department (ED) use among pediatric patients at Coastal Family Medicine. The rationale behind this focus was to improve continuity for our patients while decreasing the cost burden for low-acuity ED visits. The family medicine residency clinic pediatric panel has grown by 35% over the past 3 years, bringing this issue of same-day acute access in our clinic to the forefront.

METHODS

A survey was created to better understand the needs of our high users of the ED. The survey identified that patients believed the ED provided better same-day access than our clinic during the daytime hours, 8 am-5 pm, Monday-Friday. By using this data, along with a literature review and a community practice review, a business-hour walk-in clinic for ages 0 years to 18 years was started to improve access. Clinic posters, revised scripting for office staff, phone room staff, and our after-hour triage line as well as bookmarks advertising the walk-in clinic given during well-child checks were created to address parent education. Pediatric ED data generated through our electronic medical record as well as through Medicaid reimbursement data framed the scope of this issue as significant. This was used to monitor pediatric ED visits following interventions as well.

RESULTS

Over the initial 3 months of interventions, pediatric ED use decreased by 62 visits compared with the prior year. The low-acuity diagnoses of upper respiratory infections decreased by 43.7% (71 to 40 visits) and fever decreased by 50.0% (14 to 7 visits) from the same 3 months the year prior. This decrease was sustained when examined during year 3. Over the next 12 months, there were 284 (29.8%) less visits to the ED with low-acuity diagnoses. This calculates to approximately $300,000 saved to the Medicaid system. During this time frame, our pediatric panel increased by 200 patients.

DISCUSSION

Increasing access and improving patient education decreased low-acuity pediatric ED visits in our clinic. This combination of interventions worked well in our community and has been shown to help optimize the setting in which pediatric patients are seen.

Relationship between enteric pathogens and acute gastroenteritis disease severity: a prospective cohort study

OBJECTIVES

To evaluate the relationship between individual bacterial and viral pathogens and disease severity.

METHODS

Children <18 years with three or more episodes of vomiting and/or diarrhoea were enrolled in two Canadian paediatric emergency departments between December 2014 and August 2016. Specimens were analysed employing molecular panels, and outcome data were collected 14 days after enrolment. The primary outcome was severe disease over the entire illness (symptom onset until 14-day follow-up), quantified employing the Modified Vesikari Scale (MVS) score. The score was additionally analysed in two other time periods: index (symptom onset until enrolment) and follow-up (enrolment until 14-day follow-up).

RESULTS

Median participant age was 20.7 (IQR: 11.3, 44.2) months; 47.4% (518/1093) and 73.4% (802/1093) of participants had index and total MVS scores ≥11, respectively. The most commonly identified pathogens were rotavirus (289/1093; 26.4%) and norovirus (258/1093; 23.6%). In multivariable analysis, severe disease over the entire illness was associated with rotavirus (OR = 9.60; 95%CI: 5.69, 16.19), Salmonella (OR = 6.61; 95%CI: 1.50, 29.17), adenovirus (OR = 2.53; 95%CI: 1.62, 3.97), and norovirus (OR = 1.43; 95%CI: 1.01, 2.01). Pathogens associated with severe disease at the index visit were: rotavirus only (OR = 6.13; 95%CI: 4.29, 8.75), Salmonella (OR = 4.59; 95%CI: 1.71, 12.29), adenovirus only (OR = 2.06; 95%CI: 1.41, 3.00), rotavirus plus adenovirus (OR = 3.15; 95%CI: 1.35, 7.37), and norovirus (OR = 0.68; 95%CI: 0.49, 0.94). During the follow-up period, rotavirus (OR = 2.21; 95%CI: 1.50, 3.25) and adenovirus (OR = 2.10; 95%CI: 1.39, 3.18) were associated with severe disease.

CONCLUSIONS

In children presenting for emergency department care with acute gastroenteritis, pathogens identified were predominantly viruses, and several of which were associated with severe disease. Salmonella was the sole bacterium independently associated with severe disease.

C-Reactive Protein Level as Diagnostic Marker in Young Febrile Children Presenting in a General Practice Out-of-Hours Service

BACKGROUND

It is unclear how well a C-reactive protein (CRP) value predicts a serious infection (SI) in young febrile children in general practice.

METHODS

This prospective cohort study with 1-week follow-up included children, aged 3 months to 6 years, presenting with fever to a general practitioner out-of-hours service. We evaluate whether CRP level has predictive value for diagnosing a child at risk for an SI either at presentation or during follow-up. The index test was CRP ≤20 mg/L (rule out an SI) and >80 mg/L (rule in an SI). The reference standard was referral to a pediatric emergency department or diagnosis of an SI. The main outcome measure was CRP value.

RESULTS

CRP level was available for 440 children. To rule out an SI, CRP ≤20 mg/L did not change the probability of having no SI (87.5%). CRP >80 mg/L increased the probability of having an SI from 11.4% (pretest probability) to 21.2% (posttest probability). In children without a diagnosis of SI at presentation, CRP could not predict an SI during follow-up (CRP >80 mg/L: positive likelihood ratio, 2.1, 95% confidence interval, 1.3-3.5; CRP ≤20 mg/L: negative likelihood ratio, 0.9, 95% confidence interval, 0.7-1.2).

CONCLUSIONS

In general practice CRP has little clinically relevant value in discriminating febrile children in need of medical care from those who are not.

Inter-rater Reliability of Triages Performed by the Electronic Triage System

OBJECTIVE

To examine the inter-rater reliability of triages performed by the Electronic Triage System (ETS) which has recently developed and used in hospital emergency department (ED).

METHODS

This cross-sectional study was conducted prospectively and studied 408 visitors of Tabriz Imam Reza hospital's ED. The variables of interest were age, sex, nurse-assigned triage category, physician-assigned triage category, disease type (trauma, non-trauma), and the referred room within the ED. Cohen's un-weighted kappa, linear weighted kappa, and quadratic weighted kappa were used to describe the reliability.

RESULTS

Un-weighted kappa observed to be 0.186 (95% CI: 0.123-0.249). Linear weighted kappa observed as 0.317 (95% CI: 0.251-0.384) and quadratic weighted kappa as 0.462 (95% CI: 0.336-0.589). In general, low agreement was seen between the triage nurses and ED physicians. For trauma patients and for those who were referred to the cardiopulmonary resuscitation room (CPR), all three types of kappa were higher than other visitors of the ED.

CONCLUSION

Inter-rater reliability of the triages performed by the ETS observed as ranging from poor to moderate. Implementing interventions that would create a common language between nurses and physicians about the triage of the ED visitors seems necessary. The more agreement on the triage of trauma and CPR patients might be due to their condition and the more attention to them.

Professional Practice and Innovation: The Development and Design of an Electronic Patient Record Using Open Source Web-Based Technology

This paper describes the method used to develop the One Stop Crisis Centre (OSCC) Portal, an open-source web-based electronic patient record system (EPR) for the One Stop Crisis Center, Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia (HUSM) in Kelantan, Malaysia. Features and functionalities of the system are presented to demonstrate the workflow. Use of the OSCC Portal improved data integration and data communication and contributed to improvements in care management. With implementation of the OSCC portal, improved coordination between disciplines and standardisation of data in HUSM were noticed. It is expected that this will in turn result in improved data confidentiality and data integrity. The collected data will also be useful for quality assessment and research. Other low-resource centers with limited computer hardware and access to open-source software could benefit from this endeavour.