The use of baseline investigations in patients admitted from an accident and emergency department

We studied the use of four investigations on patients admitted from our Accident and Emergency Department: full blood count, urea and electrolytes, chest x-ray and electrocardiogram. We found 1) that these investigations were performed on a high proportion of patients admitted 2) that a high percentage of these investigations yielded normal results. We suggest that a greater emphasis should be placed on clinical assessment, rather than the 'routine' use of investigations.