749 Unexpected benefits of pandemic guidelines for the management of epistaxis

Autor: C Diver, J A Empey, A Zuccarelli, E Gogo
Rok vydání: 2021
Předmět:
Zdroj: The British Journal of Surgery
ISSN: 1365-2168
0007-1323
DOI: 10.1093/bjs/znab258.050
Popis: Aim The Royal Victoria Hospital adopted ENT UK’s pandemic guidelines for the management of epistaxis. We aimed to reduce ENT referrals, in-patient admissions and staff exposure to COVID-19 whilst maintaining patient safety. This involved collaboration with ED to promote the use of absorbable packs and pharmacological alternatives over rhinoscopy & rigid endoscopy with cautery +/- non-absorbable packs. Method Data was collected on patients presenting with epistaxis over a six-week period beginning March 2020 and the same period in 2019. Key factors recorded were number of presentations, ENT referrals, admissions, and their durations, along with management and outcomes. ENT provided training to ED staff and produced video resources for the "My ED" app. Feedback from ED and patient data was gathered to improve training and assess effectiveness. Results Pre-pandemic, 48% of ED epistaxis presentations were referred to ENT vs. 28% following the guidelines introduction. In 2019 49% of referrals were admitted vs. 42% in 2020. The average in-patient stay was reduced from four nights to one. Re-admission rate remained similar from 22% in 2019 to 20% in 2020. These results were achieved following repeated improvements to the training sessions. Conclusions The ENT UK guidelines, when supplemented with ED collaboration, are effective at reducing ENT referrals and admissions. In addition to reducing COVID-19 exposure, the guidelines offered an improved patient experience (less invasive intervention, reduced/removed in-patient stay) with no loss of efficacy. This, combined with a reduced treatment cost of ∼£2,000 per in-patient, suggests the guidelines have long-term value out-with a pandemic setting.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
Externí odkaz: