Effectiveness of Patient Care in an Emergency Room

Abstract

Management processes and outcomes for 141 emergency-room patients scheduled for upper gastrointestinal series, barium enemas or cholecystography were evaluated. Ninety-four out of 141 patients completed their diagnostic x-ray studies, and 77 (55 per cent) received an adequate work-up for the intern's diagnostic impression. Only 37 out of 98 patients having a diagnostic x-ray examination knew whether it was normal or abnormal, and just 14 out of the 38 patients with an abnormal x-ray result (37 per cent) appeared to have received adequate therapy. Thus, management of this cohort of 141 patients resulted in effective medical care for 38 patients (27 per cent), ineffective care for 84 patients (60 per cent) and neither effective nor ineffective care for 19 patients (13 per cent).