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dc.contributor.authorKelly, Anne Maree
dc.contributor.authorHoldgate, Anna
dc.contributor.authorKeijzers, Gerben
dc.contributor.authorKlim, Sharon
dc.contributor.authorGraham, Colin A
dc.contributor.authorCraig, Simon
dc.contributor.authorKuan, Win Sen
dc.contributor.authorJones, Peter
dc.contributor.authorLawoko, Charles
dc.contributor.authorLaribi, Said
dc.date.accessioned2017-07-17T01:50:38Z
dc.date.available2017-07-17T01:50:38Z
dc.date.issued2016
dc.identifier.issn1757-7241
dc.identifier.doi10.1186/s13049-016-0305-5
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10072/100636
dc.description.abstractBackground: This study aimed to determine epidemiology and outcome for patients presenting to emergency departments (ED) with shortness of breath who were transported by ambulance. Methods: This was a planned sub-study of a prospective, interrupted time series cohort study conducted at three time points in 2014 and which included consecutive adult patients presenting to the ED with dyspnoea as a main symptom. For this sub-study, additional inclusion criteria were presentation to an ED in Australia or New Zealand and transport by ambulance. The primary outcomes of interest are the epidemiology and outcome of these patients. Analysis was by descriptive statistics and comparisons of proportions. Results: One thousand seven patients met inclusion criteria. Median age was 74 years (IQR 61-68) and 46.1 % were male. There was a high rate of co-morbidity and chronic medication use. The most common ED diagnoses were lower respiratory tract infection (including pneumonia, 22.7 %), cardiac failure (20.5%) and exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (19.7 %). ED disposition was hospital admission (including ICU) for 76.4 %, ICU admission for 5.6 % and death in ED in 0.9 %. Overall in-hospital mortality among admitted patients was 6.5 %. Discussion: Patients transported by ambulance with shortness of breath make up a significant proportion of ambulance caseload and have high comorbidity and high hospital admission rate. In this study, >60 % were accounted for by patients with heart failure, lower respiratory tract infection or COPD, but there were a wide range of diagnoses. This has implications for service planning, models of care and paramedic training. Conclusion: This study shows that patients transported to hospital by ambulance with shortness of breath are a complex and seriously ill group with a broad range of diagnoses. Understanding the characteristics of these patients, the range of diagnoses and their outcome can help inform training and planning of services.
dc.description.peerreviewedYes
dc.languageEnglish
dc.language.isoeng
dc.publisherBioMed Central
dc.relation.ispartofpagefrom113-1
dc.relation.ispartofpageto113-7
dc.relation.ispartofjournalScandinavian Journal of Trauma, Resuscitation and Emergency Medicine
dc.relation.ispartofvolume24
dc.subject.fieldofresearchClinical sciences
dc.subject.fieldofresearchClinical sciences not elsewhere classified
dc.subject.fieldofresearchNursing
dc.subject.fieldofresearchcode3202
dc.subject.fieldofresearchcode320299
dc.subject.fieldofresearchcode4205
dc.titleEpidemiology, prehospital care and outcomes of patients arriving by ambulance with dyspnoea: an observational study
dc.typeJournal article
dc.type.descriptionC1 - Articles
dc.type.codeC - Journal Articles
dcterms.licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.description.versionVersion of Record (VoR)
gro.rights.copyright© The Author(s) 2016. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/ zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
gro.hasfulltextFull Text
gro.griffith.authorKeijzers, Gerben
gro.griffith.authorThom, Ogilvie


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