Short- and long-term effects of emergency medicine sonography on formal sonography use: a decade of experience.
Publication/Presentation Date
2-1-2006
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: It has been reported that use of formal sonographic studies by departments of radiology initially increases after inception of an emergency medicine (EM) sonography training program, but there are no data on whether this trend continues as the training program matures. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of an ongoing EM sonography program on formal sonography use after more than a decade of experience.
METHODS: This retrospective, computer-assisted review compared emergency department (ED) abdominal sonographic studies ordered in the 3 years before inception of an EM sonography program (1992-1994) with those ordered in the 8 years after its inception (1995-2002). To determine the relative change, all abdominal sonograms ordered by ED physicians were compared with equivalent outpatient formal sonograms by all other physicians in the hospital. The study site is a community teaching hospital with a current ED census of 50,000.
RESULTS: In the initial 4 years (1995-1998), the number of formal studies increased significantly in both absolute numbers (annual mean, 95 versus 162; P < .002) and as a percentage of all outpatient sonograms ordered at the institution (5.1% versus 8.5%; P < .0001). However, in the following 4 years (1999-2002), the absolute number of formal studies remained constant but decreased when adjusted for an increased ED census. Emergency department-ordered formal studies also decreased as a percentage of all sonograms ordered (5.1% versus 4.1%; P = .002).
CONCLUSIONS: Emergency department use of formal sonography services increases with the introduction of ED sonography but decreases markedly as the program matures.
Volume
25
Issue
2
First Page
233
Last Page
236
ISSN
0278-4297
Published In/Presented At
Jacoby, J. L., Kasarda, D., Melanson, S., Patterson, J., & Heller, M. (2006). Short- and long-term effects of emergency medicine sonography on formal sonography use: a decade of experience. Journal of ultrasound in medicine : official journal of the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine, 25(2), 233–236. https://doi.org/10.7863/jum.2006.25.2.233
Disciplines
Medicine and Health Sciences
PubMedID
16439787
Department(s)
Department of Emergency Medicine
Document Type
Article